Prof. Latifat Ibisomi

Prof. Latifat Ibisomi holds a PhD in Demography and Population Studies and an MSc (Med) in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), where she is now Professor of Population and Public Health and Head of the Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics in the School of Public Health. She has worked in reproductive health since 1988, holding positions at the National Population Commission of Nigeria, UNICEF Nigeria, the African Population and Health Research Centre in Kenya, and Wits, accumulating more than three decades of experience across sub-Saharan Africa.

Her research centres on fertility patterns, contraceptive use, reproductive health service access, and preconception care — particularly in high-migration and underserved communities in South Africa and Nigeria. Her well-cited qualitative work on perceptions of childlessness in Nigeria has contributed to international understanding of how fertility norms and experiences differ across cultural contexts. She has also published on convergence in fertility between South African and Mozambican populations, male engagement in preconception care, and the use of mHealth tools for maternal and neonatal health.

Prof. Ibisomi serves as an adjunct research fellow at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) and is an advisor to the WHO on TDR Implementation Research core competencies. She coordinates the MSc Epidemiology Programme at Wits School of Public Health and is a member of the Ekurhuleni District Research Committee, Gauteng Province. Her writing for Fertlo draws on her deep knowledge of reproductive epidemiology to contextualise fertility success rates, lifestyle factors, and treatment outcomes in evidence from population studies.