Dr. Daphney Conco

Daphney Conco is a public health researcher whose work centers on health systems strengthening, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and maternal and newborn care in sub-Saharan Africa. Her scholarship spans South Africa and Rwanda, with sustained engagement in universal health coverage, ethics in health priority-setting, and the governance realities that shape service delivery. She contributes to interdisciplinary debates linking policy, ethics, and frontline practice.

A major strand of her research examines digital health innovations, particularly the Safe Delivery Application, as tools to enhance nurses’ and midwives’ competencies in managing obstetric emergencies. Through mixed-methods and intervention studies, she demonstrates how mHealth and mLearning can improve clinical decision-making, professional confidence, and maternal and neonatal outcomes in district hospitals, while foregrounding contextual constraints in low-resource settings.

Another core focus is adolescent SRHR and comprehensive sexuality education in Rwanda, alongside analyses of ethical review processes and access to medical records in South Africa. Her work highlights multilevel barriers to information, culturally sensitive curriculum gaps, and bureaucratic dynamics affecting research and care. Across publications, strong qualitative insight and policy relevance position her as a leading voice on equity-oriented health system reform.