Amrita Daftary

Faculty & School/Dept.

Faculty of Health - School of Global Health - School of Health Policy & Management

Degrees

PhD - 2011
University of Toronto
Toronto

MPH - 2006
Columbia University
New York

BSc Pharm. - 1999
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg

Biography

Dr. Daftary is a social and behavioural global health researcher. She has expertise in qualitative research methods, implementation science and evaluation, and health services research. Dr. Daftary examines health care seeking and caregiving practices for tuberculosis (TB) and HIV. She is well cited for her work on stigma associated with TB, including drug-resistant TB and TB-HIV coinfection. Her projects are based in a number of global settings, particularly South Africa, India, and Canada. Dr. Daftary is Director and Founder of SSHIFTB, a global virtual centre on Social Science & Health Innovations For Tuberculosis, at York University's Dahdaleh Institute of Global Health Research. She also holds adjunct appointments at the University of Toronto's Dalla Lana School of Public Health and University of KwaZulu-Natal's Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA). She is a Section Editor (social and behavioural research) at PLoS Global Public Health, and serves on the academic editorial boards for PLoS One and Scientific Reports. Dr. Daftary was nominated to the inaugural list of Canadian Women Leaders in Global Health.

Selected Publications

Full publication list

1. Daftary A, Mondal S, Zelnick J, et al. Dynamic needs and challenges of people with drug-resistant tuberculosis and HIV in South Africa: a qualitative study. Lancet Glob Health. 2021; 9: E479-88.


2. Daftary A, Furin J, Zelnick JR, et al. TB and women: a call to action. Int J Tuberc Lung Dis. 2020; 24: 1312-15. 


3. Boffa J*, Mhlaba T, Sulis G, et al. COVID-19 and tuberculosis in South Africa: A dangerous combination. S Afr Med J. 2020; 110: 341-2.


4. Law S*, Daftary A, Mitnick CD, et al. Disrupting a cycle of mistrust: A constructivist grounded theory study on patient-provider trust in TB care. Soc Sci Med. 2019; 240: 112578.


5. Daftary A, Satyanarayana S, Jha N, et al. Can community pharmacists improve TB case finding? A mixed methods intervention study in India. BMJ Glob Health, 2019; 4: e001417.


6. Reid MJA, Arinaminpathy N, Bloom A, et al. Building a tuberculosis-free world: The Lancet Commission on tuberculosis. Lancet, 2019; 393: 1331-84.


7. Daftary A, Mitchell EMH, Reid MJA, et al. To End TB, First-Ever High-Level Meeting on Tuberculosis Must Address Stigma. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2018; 99(5):1114-6.


8. Macintyre K, Bakker MI, Bergson S, et al. Defining the research agenda to measure and reduce tuberculosis stigmas. Int J Tuberc Lung Dis. 2017; 21: 87-96.


9. Daftary A, Frick M, Venkatesan N, et al. Fighting TB stigma: we need to apply lessons learnt from HIV activism. BMJ Glob Health. 2017; 2: e000515.


10. Daftary A, Calzavara L, Padayatchi N. The contrasting cultures of HIV and tuberculosis care. AIDS, 2015; 29(1):1-4.


11. Daftary A. HIV and tuberculosis: the construction and management of double stigma. Soc Sci Med, 2012; 74(10):1512-9.

Other Research Outputs

In the media

Tackling stigma – an unchecked social determinant of tuberculosis. CIHR Institute of Infection and Immunity. Mar 2021.

York professor studies drug-resistant tuberculosis (DRTB)-HIV care among patients in South Africa. Yfile. Mar 2021.

We can use the pandemic to reimagine global health teaching by Pai M. Forbes. Feb 2021.

Tuberculosis: The Forgotten Pandemic. RawTalk podcast. Jan 2021.

Affiliations

Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA), University of KwaZulu Natal
Research Associate

Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto
Adjunct, Social & Behavioural Health Sciences

PAHO/WHO Collaborating Centre for TB Research, McGill International TB Centre
Investigator

Service/Community Activities

Social Science & Health Innovations for Tuberculosis (sshiftb)
Founder & Director

Toronto Public Health, TB Programme
Advisor (Stigma project)

Awards

FRQS, Junior 1 Scholars Award (Health & Society) - 2018

CIHR Fellowship (HIV/AIDS) - 2011

CIHR Banting & Best Doctoral Award - 2007

IDRC Doctoral Award - 2008

Supervision

Currently available to supervise graduate students: Yes

Currently taking on work-study students, Graduate Assistants or Volunteers: Yes

Available to supervise undergraduate thesis projects: Yes

Current Research

Tuberculosis particularly drug-resistant TB; HIV

Qualitative methods; health services research and evaluation; implementation science; digital interventions; social determinants of health; stigma; adherence

Research Projects

Multi-level and intersectional stigma and other social determinant effects on TB case detection, care, and treatment outcomes
Role: CoInvestigator
Year Funded: 2020
Duration: 5
Funded by: National Institutes of Health (US)

Patient related perspectives on new treatments for drug-resistant TB
Role: Principal Investigator
Year Funded: 2019
Duration: 1
Funded by: Other...
Other funding: World Health Organization

Promoting engagement in the drug-resistant TB/HIV care continuum in South Africa
Role: CoInvestigator
Year Funded: 2016
Duration: 5
Funded by: National Institutes of Health (US)

Standardized patients: an approach to understanding the realities of South Africa’s TB care cascade
Role: Principal Investigator
Year Funded: 2017
Duration: 3
Funded by: Other...
Other funding: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation