Dr. Rutendo Birri Makota

Qualifications:

Ms Birri Makota holds PhD in Public Health (Biostatistics) with the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa. She also holds an MSc in Biostatistics, and a BSc in Statistics and Biochemistry from the University of Zimbabwe.

Academic Appointments:

Lecturer

Research Interests:

Biostatistics

Faculty: Science

Department: Biomedical Informatics and Biomedical Engineering

Research Category: Biochemistry

Biography:

Rutendo Birri-Makota is a Biostatistician and a Lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe. She has been involved in voluntary work with Médecins Sans Frontières -Operational Centre Amsterdam (MSF-OCA) where she was a biostatistician working on the Analysis of changes in treatment outcomes of the Epworth HIV Cohort over time and in different treatment groups from 2006 to 2014. She has also worked on a joined project for UZUCSF-WORLD BANK on Estimating the efficiency gains made through the integration of HIV and reproductive health services in Zimbabwe, 2013-2014. She has also worked at UNICEF Zimbabwe during her MSc training. She has also worked at Parirenyatwa Opportunistic Infections (OI) clinic as a biostatistician.

Email: rbirrimakota@science.uz.ac.zw

Phone:

Publications:

1. Birri Makota R, Musenge E. Estimating HIV incidence over a decade in Zimbabwe: A comparison of the catalytic and Farrington models. PLOS Glob Public Health 3 (9): e0001717. 2023.
2. Birri Makota RB, Musenge E. Predicting HIV infection in the decade (2005–2015) pre-COVID-19 in Zimbabwe: a supervised classification-based machine learning approach. PLOS Digital Health. 2023;2(6):e0000260.
3. Birri Makota RB, Musenge E. Estimating HIV incidence over a decade in Zimbabwe: A comparison of the catalytic and Farrington models. PLOS Global Public Health. 2023;3(9):e0001717.
4. Makota RB, Musenge E. Spatial heterogeneity in relationship between district patterns of HIV incidence and covariates in Zimbabwe: a multi-scale geographically weighted regression analysis. Geospatial Health. 2023;18(2).
5. Birri Makota R, Musenge E. Factors associated with HIV infection in Zimbabwe over a decade from 2005 to 2015: an interval-censoring survival analysis approach. Frontiers in public health. 2019;7:262.
6. Birri Makota R, Musenge E. Estimating age specific prevalence and force of infection in Zimbabwe using combined cross-sectional surveys from 2005 to 2015. Frontiers in Epidemiology. 2022;2:1029583.
7. Kasambala M, Mduluza T, Vengesai A, Mduluza-Jokonya T, Jokonya L, Midzi H, BirriMakota R; Mutemeri A; Maziti E; Dube-Marimbe B. Effect of Schistosoma haematobium infection on the cognitive functions of preschool age children and benefits of treatment from an endemic area in Zimbabwe. BMC infectious diseases. 2022;22(1):809.
8. Kasambala M, Mukaratirwa S, Vengesai A, Mduluza-Jokonya T, Jokonya L, Midzi H,BirriMakota R; Mutemeri A; Maziti E; Dube-Marimbe B. The association of systemic inflammation and cognitive functions of pre-school aged children residing in a Schistosoma haematobium endemic area in Zimbabwe. Frontiers in immunology. 2023;14:1139912.
9. Makadzange A, Higgins-Biddle M, Chimukangara B, Birri R, Gordon M, Mahlanza T, et al. Clinical, virologic, immunologic outcomes and emerging HIV drug resistance patterns in children and adolescents in public ART care in Zimbabwe. PloS one. 2015;10(12):e0144057.
10. Makadzange AT, Dougherty L, Birri R, Kupakuwana G, van Dijk J, Dangarembizi MB, et al. Temporal improvements in long-term outcome in care among HIV-infected children enrolled in public antiretroviral treatment care: an analysis of outcomes from 2004 to 2012 in Zimbabwe. The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal. 2018;37(8):794-800.
11. Mapingure M, Chingombe I, Dzinamarira T, Moyo B, Samba C, Murigo D, Mugurungi O, Mbunge E, Makota RB, Murewanhema G, Musuka G. Presence of tuberculosis symptoms among HIV-positive men who have sex with men (MSM) in Zimbabwe. AIDS research and therapy. 2024;21(1):18.
12. Mugurungi O, Mbunge E, Birri-Makota R, Chingombe I, Mapingure M, Moyo B. Predicting sexually transmitted infections among men who have sex with men in Zimbabwe using deep learning and ensemble machine learning models. PLOS Digit Health 3 (7): e0000541. 2024.
13. Mugurungi O, Mbunge E, Birri-Makota R, Chingombe I, Mapingure M, Moyo B, et al. Predicting sexually transmitted infections among men who have sex with men in Zimbabwe using deep learning and ensemble machine learning models. PLOS Digital Health. 2024;3(7):e0000541.
14. Musuka G, Murewanhema G, Herrera H, Mbunge E, Birri-Makota R, Dzinamarira T, et al. Rural-urban disparities and socioeconomic determinants of caesarean delivery rates in Zimbabwe: Evidence from the 2019 National Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey. South African Medical Journal. 2024;114(7):20-3.
15. Mapingure M, Chingombe I, Dzinamarira T, Moyo B, Samba C, Murigo D, Mugurungi O, Mbunge E, Makota RB, Murewanhema G, Musuka G. Correction: Presence of tuberculosis symptoms among HIV-positive men who have sex with men (MSM) in Zimbabwe. AIDS Res Ther. 2024 Apr 29;21(1):26. doi: 10.1186/s12981-024-00617-4.