Thelma Zulfawu Abu

GoHelP Alumni
Thelma Abu

Thelma is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Connecticut, where her work focuses on health equity and sustainable development. She previously completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Toronto Mississauga, working on health equity in the Greater Toronto Area. Thelma earned her PhD in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management at the University of Waterloo. Her research interests include water security, climate change, health, livelihoods, and environmental impact assessment. She is a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship (QEScholars) and has contributed to the “Water Security as a Foundation for Healthy Communities and Sustainable Livelihoods” project. Her ongoing research aims to advance WaSH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) solutions for resilient healthcare systems in the Horn of Africa.

Thelma holds an MPhil from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and a BSc from the University of Ghana. During her master’s studies, she examined the competing uses of water in the context of climate variability in the Lawra District of Ghana under the Adaptation at Scale in Semi-Arid Regions (ASSAR) Project. She has also worked as an intern with WaterAid and as an independent environmental consultant specializing in environmental impact assessment in Ghana.

Conference presentations

  • O'Hearn, S., Nunbogu, A., Manjang, B. & Abu, TZ. Water security at the intersection of health and governance. Canadian Conference on Global Health, Ottawa, Ontario. (October 16th - 19th, 2019).
  • Abu, TZ. Water use and management in the context of climate variability in the Lawra District. CAGONT Annual Meeting, Kingston, Ontario (October 20th - 21st, 2017).
  • Abu, TZ. Climate Change and Water Management: Implications for Shared Use of Water Resources. 5th Climate Change and Population Conference on Africa, Accra, Ghana (July 19th - 21st, 2016).
  • Abu, TZ. Exploring the competing uses of water in the context of climate change and variability in the Lawra District. College of Basic and Applied Science (CBAS) Annual Science and Development Platform, Accra, Ghana (February 17th - 19th, 2016).

Knowledge sharing on climate change research