Dr Maëlenn Guerchet

Dr Maëlenn Guerchet is a researcher with a focus on ageing and dementia in sub-Saharan Africa. She has a background in Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Her PhD, obtained in France, focused on the assessment, prevalence and risk factors of dementia in three-French speaking African countries (Benin, Central African Republic and Congo). Following her PhD, Maëlenn extended her research in Central Africa, and her interest in comparing how the dementia epidemic affects African and other low and middle income countries in a world going through demographic, social and epidemiological transitions.

Dr Guerchet has lead and coordinated several population-based studies in West and Central Africa. She is a member of the 10/66 Dementia Research Group, which carries out population-based research into dementia, non-communicable diseases and ageing in low and middle income countries. She is involved in their most recent studies: INDEP – a mixed methods cross-sectional survey assessing the social and economic impact of care dependence among older people in Latin America, Nigeria and China; and LIFE2YEARS - third wave prevalence and incidence surveys across eight Latin American countries and China.

Since 2013, she has contributed to several reports commissioned to the Global Observatory for Ageing and Dementia Care, and led a report on ‘Dementia in sub-Saharan Africa’ (ADI).