Aina Harimanana is a medical doctor by training and currently a researcher at the Institut Pasteur de Madagascar in Antananarivo where she’s been researching Tuberculosis and malaria for the past 10 years.

“I’ve been working mainly on malaria drug resistance,” she explains. But her career has just taken a recent turn. Harimanana has just started working on sexually transmitted infections for the first time.

It’s quite a big jump, not just for her but for the country as well.

“The situation in Madagascar is quite different from the other countries because data concerning STIs is very scarce” Harimanana explains. “I would say STIs are neglected diseases here in Madagascar. Even the diagnosis is not easy, and it’s expensive.”

She is the principal investigator of the Madagascar leg of the GIFT study. Harimanana is very passionate about research. Following qualification, she worked as a medical doctor for only six months.

“Then I got an opportunity to continue my studies. So I went very far from my country to Laos to study for my Masters degree,” she recalls. “An opportunity was also given to continue on with a PhD degree. At the same time, I worked in Laos.”

That is when the research bug bit. Harimanana realised that she was more interested in research than the clinical management of patients.

“Research for me is very special because with clinical management, you think of one patient. How is the patient doing? Am I going to heal the patient at the end?” she explains. “When it comes to research, you consider a wider population. Research has an impact on the population. That’s why I prefer it to the clinical management of patients.”

When asked about the challenges she has faced as a woman in science, Harimanana grapples for a response.

“I was lucky because my family has always been there for me and has always supported me,” she says. “Even if you’re talking about the scientists here at the Institut Pasteur in Madagascar – there are more women than men.”

Now Harimanana is paying it forward by recruiting young medical doctors to join the research community. She gets much joy from helping them develop as researchers.

“There are three or four that I’ve worked with quite closely.  I’m proud of them; I don’t think they really need me anymore.”