Dr Francis Jim Ndowa

D Francis J. Ndowa, based in Zimbabwe, is a specialist Dermato-venereologist and the former Director of the Skin & Genito-Urinary Medicine Clinic in Harare (until September 2025). He serves as an international consultant on STI surveillance, management, control, and antimicrobial resistance. Until July 2025, he was the Regional Director of the Africa-MENA branch of the International Union against Sexually Transmitted Infection (IUSTI). 

Educated at the University of Birmingham Medical School with postgraduate diplomas from London, Dr Ndowa's extensive career spans the UK National Health Service, Zimbabwe's Ministry of Health and Child Care, UNAIDS, and the World Health Organization in which he worked as Medical Officer and, subsequently, Coordinator for the global prevention and control of sexually transmitted infections until his retirement in 2012. 

Currently, he serves on the Data, Safety and Monitoring Board (DSMB) for 2 landmark clinical trials in Zimbabwe aimed to investigate the impact of screening for curable STIs on newborn and maternal outcomes. The first, the PROMISE Trial, evaluates universal, diagnostic-led antenatal screening over traditional symptom-based care to drastically reduce stillbirths, prematurity, and neonatal sepsis. The second, the STOP Trial, investigates the rate of cure of pregnant women with syphilis who are treated with a single subcutaneous infusion of benzathine penicillin G compared to women  treated with three IM doses spaced a week apart, with a view to eliminate clinic adherence barriers and optimize global antibiotic supply chains. 

Dr Ndowa is also a member of the ReAct Toolbox International Advisory Group on antimicrobial resistance.