Cynthia Semá Baltazar

Director, Mozambique Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program

Cynthia Semá Baltazar has been Program Director for the Mozambique Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program (FELTP) since 2010.

Cynthia was the head of the Surveillance Department at the National Institute of Health in Mozambique from October 2010 - December 2020, and the Head of Serology Laboratory from November 2006 - September 2010. The Mozambique National Institute of Health, part of the Ministry of Health, is dedicated to generating health-related technical and scientific information in Mozambique.

Ms Baltazar co-led the technical working group for the development of the National Action Plan for Health Security in Mozambique, following the recommendation of Joint External Evaluation (JEE) in 2016. Cynthia served as the chair of the scientific committee for the 7th African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET) Scientific Conference held in Maputo in 2018. Currently she is a member of the Governance Board of AFENET and the Chairperson of the Quality Assurance and Monitoring &Evaluation Committee. She is a member of the AFENET Board of Directors and Chair of the Policy, Advocacy & Resource Mobilization Committee.

Cynthia is undertaking an ongoing Doctoral Program of Health Science from Ghent University, Belgium. She obtained a Master of Health Science (MHS) in 2010 at Fundação Oswaldo Cruz in Brazil and a Master of Public Health (MPH) in 2009 at Eduardo Mondlane University in Mozambique. 

Her research interests are diverse and include infectious disease prevention and control, with particular focus on cholera epidemiology in Mozambique, and HIV in high-risk groups, where she co-authored various scientific publications on key public health topics.