Marion Sumari-de Boer

Marion Sumari-de Boer

  • Research Fellow

Marion Sumari-de Boer’s current research focus is on the use of digital adherence tools among children and adolescents living with HIV. She is achieving this as a senior fellow at EDCTP whereby she is planning to conduct formative research and a clinical trial on this topic. In addition, she is currently a senior researcher at Kilimanjaro Clinical Research Institute (KCRI) in Moshi, Tanzania where she began working following her PhD and was awarded several research grants. At KCRI, she leads the EA-PoC project which is a multi-country implementation study on point of care viral load testing among children and adolescents in East Africa. She is currently supervising five PhD students based in Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda. In the context of AIGHD, Marion is also involved in the PAVIA project as a mentor for knowledge translation, communication and dissemination.

 

After completing her academic training in Biomedical health sciences at Radboud University in Nijmegen, where she obtained an MSc degree in Epidemiology, Marion worked as an infectious diseases epidemiologist on STI and HIV at the National Institute of Public Health and the Environment in Bilthoven. During that position, she started another MSc course in Medical Anthropology and Sociology at the University of Amsterdam for which she did her fieldwork in Moshi, Tanzania. Following this, she began her PhD training at the Academic Medical Center of the University of Amsterdam (AMC-UvA) and did research on Quality of Life and adherence to treatment among indigenous and immigrant Dutch people living with HIV. After obtaining her PhD degree, she started working at KCRI in Tanzania.

 

A career development fellowship of EDCTP allowed her to do post-doc studies in KCRI on use of digital health tools for improving adherence to treatment among people living with HIV in Tanzania. In addition, she did research on using SMS for real-time sexual behaviour among young unmarried men, use of interactive voice response calling to improve knowledge about and access to contraceptives among Maasai and use of digital adherence tools for TB patients.

KEY PUBLICATIONS

Ngowi, K.M., Masika, L., Lyamuya, F., Muro, E., Mmbaga, B.T., Sprangers, M.A.G., Nieuwkerk, P.T., Aarnoutse, R.E., Reiss, P., Sumari-de Boer, I.M. Returning of antiretroviral medication dispensed over a period of 8 months suggests non-adherence despite full adherence according to real time medication monitoring. AIDS Res Ther 17, 57 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12981-020-00313-z

Ngowi KM, Lyamuya F, Mmbaga BT, Muro E, Hillu Z, Shirima M, Aarnoutse RE, AG Sprangers M, Nieuwkerk PT, Reiss P, Sumari-de Boer M. Technical and Psychosocial Challenges of mHealth Usage for Antiretroviral Therapy Adherence Among People Living With HIV in a Resource-Limited Setting: Case Series. JMIR Form Res 2020;4(6):e14649.

Ngowi, KM, Maro E, Aarnoutse RE, Mmbaga BT, Sprangers MAG, Reiss P, Nieuwkerk PT, Sumari-de Boer IM de. Feasibility of SMS to remind pregnant and breastfeeding women living with HIV to take antiretroviral treatment in Kilimanjaro region, Tanzania: a pilot study. EAHRJ 2020;14(2):140-8.

Sumari-de Boer M, Pima FM, Ngowi KM, et al. Implementation and effectiveness of evriMED with short messages service (SMS) reminders and tailored feedback compared to standard care on adherence to treatment among tuberculosis patients in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania: proposal for a cluster randomized controlled trial. Trials. 2019;20(1):426. Published 2019 Jul 12. doi:10.1186/s13063-019-3483-4

Marion Sumari-de Boer, Arnt Schellekens, Ashanti Duinmaijer, Julieth M Lalashowi, Happiness J Swai, Quirijn de Mast, Andre van der Ven, Grace Kinabo.  Efavirenz is related to neuropsychiatric symptoms among adults, but not among adolescents living with human immunodeficiency virus in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. TMIH. 2017;23(2):164-172.