Research Project(s)

• AGYW BLOOM & THRIVE
• DSTI-NRF Institute for the Preparedness and Prevention of Pandemics (IP3)
• Sophakama Sisonke: Understanding and promoting the resilience and wellbeing of emerging adult men living with perinatally-acquired HIV in the Eastern Cape, South Africa.
• Highest Returns on Investments for Adolescent Girls
• Project KULEA
• UKRI GCRF Accelerate Hub
• Global Fund
• Ask-Boost-Connect-Discuss (Grand Challenges Canada: Screen & Support Package)
• Mzantsi Wakho Adolescent Adherence Study/ UPLIFT (Understanding Predictors of Lifelong Initiation and Follow-up Treatment for adolescents and youth living with HIV)
• HEY BABY (Helping Empower Youth Brought up in Adversity with their Babies and Young children)
• Parenting for Lifelong Health 

Research Interests

• Young people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS in resource-limited settings
• Adolescent and young people's sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR)
• Adolescent motherhood and their children 
• Social and structural factors which underlie HIV acquisition and SRHR

Biography  

Professor Elona Toska is an adolescent health and wellbeing expert and an emerging leader in adolescent and HIV/AIDS research. She holds an MSc and DPhil in Evidence-Based Social Intervention from the University of Oxford. She is the Director and Principal Research Officer of the Adolescent Accelerators Research Hub at the Centre for Social Science Research (CSSR). Elona is also an Associate Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at UCT and an Associate Member of the Department of Social Policy and Intervention at the University of Oxford.

Elona is currently involved in several high-impact research projects. She co-leads Knowledgeable, UpLifted, Empowered Adolescents (KULEA; “Nurture” in Swahili) with Dr Christina Laurenzi (Stellenbosch University), which explores stigma experiences among adolescent girls and young mothers within healthcare settings. This work is embedded within a broader implementation of a supportive package of care delivered by Paediatric-Adolescent Treatment Africa (PATA).

In collaboration with Associate Professor William Rudgard and Professor Lucie Cluver (University of Oxford), Elona is also developing innovative methods to model the impacts and economic returns of integrated ‘accelerator’ intervention packages. 

Elona serves as Thematic Centre Lead for Responsive Communities and Agile Service-Provision Systems, a core centre within the Institute for the Preparedness and Prevention of Pandemics (IP3). IP3 adopts a multisectoral and interdisciplinary approach to strengthening Southern Africa’s capacity to anticipate, respond to, and recover from pandemics.

Elona is co-Principal Investigator of the AGYW BLOOM & THRIVE project, alongside Chelsea Coakley (UCT) and Dr Ntombifikile Mtshali (Shout-It-Now). This project examines how a generative artificial intelligence–enhanced digital framework can be leveraged as a safe and supportive channel to assist pregnant and parenting adolescent girls and young women (AGYW). The intervention focuses on HIV risk assessment, health decision-making, navigation of virtual and in-person health services, and the promotion of relational wellbeing.

In the past five years, her research has resulted in over 100 high-impact peer-reviewed publications in international journals, more than 70 conference presentations, and numerous webinars. Her findings have been cited in multiple United Nations documents, including annual UNAIDS reports (2018, 2019), UNAIDS guidance on HIV and social protection, and WHO and UNICEF technical briefs. 

Elona works closely with both an international and regional network of collaborators bridging academic and civil service organisations, including the University of Oxford, University College London, University of Fort Hare, University of KwaZulu-Natal, University of the Witwatersrand, Curtin University, UNICEF, Paediatric-Adolescent Treatment Africa, and governmental partners in South Africa and neighbouring countries. Born in Albania, she has lived and worked across the United Kingdom, United States, and Southeast Asia, and has been based in South Africa since 2012.

Elona Toska CV

Recent Publications 

• Laurenzi, C., Ronan, A., Phillips, L., Nalugo, S., Mupakile, E., Operario, D., & Toska, E. (2022). Enhancing a peer supporter intervention for young mothers living with HIV in Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia: Adaptation and co-development of a psychosocial component. Global public health, 1–15. Advance online publication. DOI: 10.1080/17441692.2022.2081711
• Van Staden, Q. Laurenzi, C. Toska, E. (2022). Two years after lockdown: reviewing the effects of COVID-19 on health services and support for adolescents living with HIV in South Africa. JIAS. DOI: 10.1002/jia2.25904
• Toska, E., Zhou, S., Laurenzi, C. A., Haghighat, R., Saal, W., Gulaid, L., & Cluver, L. (2022). Predictors of secondary HIV transmission risk in a cohort of adolescents living with HIV in South Africa. AIDS, 36(2), 267-276. DOI: 10.1002/jia2.25904