Emeritus Professor Thandi Puoane receives the 2018 Public Health Innovation and Lifetime Achievement (PHILA) Award from the Public Health Association of South Africa (PHASA). The award honors the receipient’s life time of excellence and commitment to public health research, education and service.
Originally trained as a nurse, Thandi Puoane has extensive experience in nursing, research, nutrition and chronic diseases. Her main research areas include improving the hospital management of severe malnutrition and prevention of risk factors for non-communicable diseases among peri-urban women using a participatory action research approach.
She has worked with several provincial departments of health developing programmes and establishing monitoring and evaluation systems to improve the programme implementation.