Home
  • E-mailastrid.blystad@uib.no
  • Phone+47 55 58 61 61
  • Visitor Address
    At ISF: Kalfarveien 31 / At CIH: Overlege Danielsens Hus, Årstadvn. 21
    Bergen
  • Postal Address
    Postboks 7804
    5020 Bergen

Astrid Blystad, nurse and social anthropologist, is Professor at the Centre for International Health, Department of Global Public Health and Primary Care, University of Bergen. Her research interests lie at the intersection between global and national health policy and the local politics of reproduction.

Her work springs out of some 35 years of research in eastern and southern Africa. Methodologically the research is based in the ethnographic tradition, - in recent years in combination with other qualitative methods and mixed methods designs. Theoretical interests are located within socio-cultural theory, critical theory, gender theory, phenomenology and institutional ethnography.

She has been the principle investigator for a series of externally funded multidisciplinary research initiatives, the most recent being the Research Council of Norway funded projects Competing discourses impacting girls’ and women’s rights: Fertility control and safe abortion in Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zambia (2016-19) and Reporting in context: An interdisciplinary initiative to strengthen maternal health services and surveillance in Ethiopia and Tanzania (2021-2026). 

She has published extensively within global reproductive health and has supervised 17 PhD candidates and more than 70 master students till completion. She presently supervises 6 PhD candidates, four master candidates and one research track candidate. She is deputy leader of the research group Global Health Anthropology, CIH, IGS.

 

Blystad teaches in the master program in Global Health at the Centre for International Health (CIH) and in the master program in Health and Society at the Department of Global Public Health and Primary Health Care (IGS), Faculty of Medicine, University of Bergen.

The prime topics taught include social science perspectives on health, illness and suffering; qualitative research methodology and the philosophy of science. She co-coordinates the MA/PhD course ‘Introduction to anthropology in global health’ with Professor Karen Marie Moland, CIH.  

Supervision:
Blystad has supervised a total of 17 PhD candidates (8 as main supervisor, 9 as co-supervisor). PhD projects completed: name, short title, year, main supervisor (MS), co-supervisor (CS):

 

Marte Bygstad Landro: Experiences of shame among depressed, Norway, 2016-22 (CS)

Gloria Abena Ampim: Male involvement in maternal health initiatives, Ghana, 2018-22 (CS)

Marte ES Haaland: Negotiating the abortion law, Zambia, 2017- 21 (MS)

Janne Gjerde: Living with pelvic floor disorders, Ethiopia, 2013-18 (MS)

Bodil B Våga: Nursing care in a cultural perspective, Tanzania, 2009-15 (MS)

Elizabeth Shayo: Participation in health-related decision making, Tanzania, 2009-15 (MS) 

Huda Sharfi: Obstetric fistula and the challenge of reintegration, Sudan, 2008-13 (CS)

Getaneh Mehari: The Gamo gome institution and women’s sexual rights, 2009-13 (CS)

Marit Østebø: The export of gender policies in Norwegian foreign aid, 2009-13 (MS)

Karine Jansen: Politicisation of the 2005-07 Chikungunya epidemic, Reunion, 2008-13 (CS)

Nils G Songstad: Human resources for health, Tanzania, 2007-12 (MS)

Marte Jurgensen: Voluntary testing and counselling for HIV in Zambia, 2007-12 (CS)

Tine Eri:  Experiences of labour onset and early labour, 2008-11 (MS)

Mercy Njeru: Challenges of equity and adherence in HIV interventions, Kenya, 2007-11 (CS)

Torhild S Terkelsen: Gendered touch: experiences from physiotherapy, 2003-08 (CS)

Sebalda Leshabari: Infant feeding among HIV positive mothers, Tanzania, 2004-07 (CS)

Christopher Oleke: Local dynamics of the orphan challenge in Uganda, 2001-05 (MS)

Current PhD candidates (6): Nega Jibat 2017-2022 (CS); Emily McClean 2021-2024 (CS), Ane Straume 2014-2022 (MS), Asabneh Molla 2022-2025 (CS), Kaja Skoftedalen 2022-2026 (CS), Tezera Berheto 2023-2026 (CS).  

Blystad has supervised more than 70 master projects and three (3) medical research track candidates. Present MA students: 4. Present research track students:1

Textbook
  • Show author(s) (2008). Helse i tid og rom. Cappelen Damm Akademisk.
Academic article
  • Show author(s) (2024). Between ‘block course relationships’ and abstinence: cultures of sexuality among students at Addis Ababa University. Culture, Health and Sexuality.
  • Show author(s) (2023). Health workers’ experience of providing second-trimester abortion care in Ethiopia: a qualitative study. Reproductive Health. 8 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2022). ‘I Do Not Want Her to be Doing Anything Stressful’: Men’s Involvement in Domestic Work during pregnancy in Ghana. Progress in Development Studies. 319-334.
  • Show author(s) (2021). “Shame leaves me crawling on my knees” – how people with depression experience shame. Nordisk sygeplejeforskning. 155-166.
  • Show author(s) (2021). Norms and sexual relations among adolescents in the context of an intervention trial in rural Zambia. Global Public Health. 14 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2021). "I came to escort someone": Men's experiences of antenatal care services in Urban Ghana. A qualitative study. Reproductive Health. 12 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2020). When abortion becomes public - Everyday politics of reproduction in rural Zambia. Social Science and Medicine.
  • Show author(s) (2020). Vanilla bisquits and lobola bridewealth: Parallel discourses on early pregnancy and schooling in rural Zambia. BMC Public Health. 11 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2020). Silent politics and unknown numbers: Rural health bureaucrats and Zambian abortion policy. Social Science and Medicine.
  • Show author(s) (2020). Making Fathers: Masculinities and Social Change in the Ghanaian Context. Africa Today. 24-47.
  • Show author(s) (2020). Beyond the law: Misoprostol and medical abortion in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Social Science and Medicine. 9 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2019). ‘An uneasy compromise’: strategies and dilemmas in realizing a permissive abortion law in Ethiopia. International Journal for Equity in Health.
  • Show author(s) (2019). Why teach sexuality education in school? Teacher discretion in implementing comprehensive sexuality education in rural Zambia. International Journal for Equity in Health. 1-10.
  • Show author(s) (2019). When the law makes doors slightly open: ethical dilemmas among abortion service providers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. BMC Medical Ethics. 10 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2019). The challenge of community engagement and informed consent in rural Zambia: an example from a pilot study. BMC Medical Ethics. 45.
  • Show author(s) (2019). The access paradox: abortion law, policy and practice in Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zambia. International Journal for Equity in Health.
  • Show author(s) (2019). Shaping the abortion policy – competing discourses on the Zambian termination of pregnancy act. International Journal for Equity in Health. 1-11.
  • Show author(s) (2019). Health, life and rights: a discourse analysis of a hybrid abortion regime in Tanzania. International Journal for Equity in Health.
  • Show author(s) (2019). A systems perspective on the importance of global health strategy developments for accomplishing today's Sustainable Development Goals. Health Policy and Planning. 635-645.
  • Show author(s) (2018). The lucky ones get cured: Health care seeking among women with pelvic organ prolapse in Amhara Region, Ethiopia. . PLOS ONE. 1-17.
  • Show author(s) (2018). Life after pelvic organ prolapse surgery: A qualitative study in Amhara region, Ethiopia. BMC Women's Health. 8 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2018). Community based interventions for strengthening adolescent sexual reproductive health and rights: how can they be integrated and sustained? A realist evaluation protocol from Zambia. Reproductive Health.
  • Show author(s) (2017). Åndelighet i psykisk helseomsorg: et sammensatt og vanskelig tema. Klinisk Sygepleje. 273-286.
  • Show author(s) (2017). Strengthening validity in studies of pelvic floor disorders through qualitative research: an example from Ethiopia. International Urogynecology Journal. 1-6.
  • Show author(s) (2016). Staying healthy “under the sheets”: Inuit youth experiences of access to sexual and reproductive health and rights in Arviat, Nunavut, Canada. International Journal of Circumpolar Health.
  • Show author(s) (2016). Researcher-researched relationship in qualitative research: Shifts in positions and researcher vulnerability. International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being. 12 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2016). Living with pelvic organ prolapse: voices of women from Amhara region, Ethiopia. International Urogynecology Journal. 361-366.
  • Show author(s) (2016). Effectiveness of a girls’ empowerment programme on early childbearing, marriage and school dropout among adolescent girls in rural Zambia: study protocol for a cluster randomized trial. Trials. 15 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2016). Boundaries of confidentiality in nursing care for mother and child in HIV programmes. Nursing Ethics. 576-586.
  • Show author(s) (2014). The accountability for reasonableness approach to guide priority setting in health systems within limited resources - findings from action research at district level in Kenya, Tanzania, and Zambia. Health Research Policy and Systems.
  • Show author(s) (2014). Reflections on informed choice in resource-poor settings: The case of infant feeding counselling in PMTCT programmes in Tanzania. Social Science and Medicine. 22-29.
  • Show author(s) (2014). Reflections on Female Circumcision Discourse in Hargeysa, Somaliland: Purified or Mutilated? African Journal of Reproductive Health.
  • Show author(s) (2014). Mediating development? Exchanges on gender policies and development practices in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Africa Today. 25-45.
  • Show author(s) (2014). Increased fairness in priority setting processes within the health sector: The case of Kapiri-Mposhi District, Zambia. BMC Health Services Research.
  • Show author(s) (2014). Challenges of disseminating clinical practice guidelines in a weak health system: the case of HIV and infant feeding recommendations in Tanzania. International Breastfeeding Journal. 13 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2013). The seven Cs of the high acceptability of home-based VCT: Results from a mixed methods approach in Zambia. Social Science and Medicine. 210-219.
  • Show author(s) (2013). Strong state policies on gender and aid: threats and opportunities for Norwegian faith-based organisations. Forum for Development Studies. 193-216.
  • Show author(s) (2013). Stakeholders' participation in planning and priority setting in the context of a decentralised health care system: the case of prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV programme in Tanzania. BMC Health Services Research. 12 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2013). Silently waiting to heal: Experiences among women living with urinary incontinence in northwest Ethiopia. International Urogynecology Journal. 953-958.
  • Show author(s) (2013). Rethinking nursing care: An ethnographic approach to nurse-patient interaction in the context of a HIV preventive programme in rural Tanzania. International Journal of Nursing Studies. 1045-1053.
  • Show author(s) (2013). Pelvic floor disorders among women in Dabat district, northwest Ethiopia: a pilot study. International Urogynecology Journal. 1135-1143.
  • Show author(s) (2012). Why do health workers in rural Tanzania prefer public sector employment? BMC Health Services Research. 12 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2012). The burden of knowing: balancing benefits and barriers in HIV testing decisions. a qualitative study from Zambia. BMC Health Services Research. 11 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2012). Prevalence of pelvic floor disorders among women in northwest Ethiopia: the DABINCOP pilot study. International Urogynecology Journal. 1135-1143.
  • Show author(s) (2012). Condom availability in high risk places and condom use: a study at district level in Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia. BMC Public Health. 1030.
  • Show author(s) (2012). Challenges to fair decision-making processes in the context of health care services: a qualitative assessment from Tanzania. International Journal for Equity in Health. 12 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2011). Practicing provider-initiated HIV testing in high prevalence settings: consent concerns and missed preventive opportunities. BMC Health Services Research. 14 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2011). Perceived unfairness in working conditions: The case of public health services in Tanzania. BMC Health Services Research. 15 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2011). 'Stay home for as long as possible': Midwives' priorities and strategies in communicating with first-time mothers in early labour. Midwifery. E286-E292.
  • Show author(s) (2010). ‘The waiting mode’: First-time mothers’ experiences of waiting for labour onset. Sexual & Reproductive HealthCare. 169-173.
  • Show author(s) (2010). Ways ahead: protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding in the context of HIV. International Breastfeeding Journal.
  • Show author(s) (2010). Reflections on global policy documents and the WHO's infant feeding guidelines: lessons learnt. International Breastfeeding Journal.
  • Show author(s) (2010). Poisonous milk and sinful mothers: the changing meaning of breastfeeding in the wake of the HIV epidemic in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. International Breastfeeding Journal.
  • Show author(s) (2010). Negotiating credibility: first-time mothers' experiences of contact with the labour ward before hospitalisation. Midwifery. E25-E30.
  • Show author(s) (2010). Breastfeeding and HIV: experiences from a decade of prevention of postnatal HIV transmission in sub-Saharan Africa. International Breastfeeding Journal.
  • Show author(s) (2010). ?HIV and infant feeding: Lessons learnt and the ways ahead? Thematic series. International Breastfeeding Journal 2010:5. International Breastfeeding Journal.
  • Show author(s) (2010). 'The divorce program': gendered experiences of HIV positive mothers enrolled in PMTCT programs - the case of rural Malawi. International Breastfeeding Journal.
  • Show author(s) (2009). The decentralisation-centralisation dilemma: recruitment and distribution of health workers in remote districts of Tanzania. BMC International Health and Human Rights. 11 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2009). Technologies of hope? Motherhood, HIV and infant feeding in eastern Africa. Anthropology & Medicine. 105-118.
  • Show author(s) (2009). Technologies of hope? Motherhood, HIV and infant feeding in eastern Africa. Anthropology & Medicine. 105-118.
  • Show author(s) (2009). Gender roles and informal care for patients with AIDS A qualitative study from an urban area in Tanzania. Journal of Transcultural Nursing. 61-68.
  • Show author(s) (2009). Accountable priority setting for trust in health systems - the need for research into a new approach for strengthening sustainable health action in developing countries. Health Research Policy and Systems. 2-11.
  • Show author(s) (2009). A critical assessment of the WHO responsiveness tool: lessons from voluntary HIV testing and counselling services in Kenya. BMC Health Services Research.
  • Show author(s) (2007). Seclusion, protection and avoidance: Exploring the metida complex among the datoga of northern Tanzania. Africa. 331-350.
  • Show author(s) (2007). Seclusion, protection and avoidance: Exploring the metida complex among the datoga of northern Tanzania. Africa. 331-350.
  • Show author(s) (2007). HIV and infant feeding counselling: challenges faced by nurse-counsellors in northern Tanzania. Human Resources for Health. 18-29.
  • Show author(s) (2007). HIV and infant feeding counselling: challenges faced by nurse-counsellors in northern Tanzania. Human Resources for Health.
  • Show author(s) (2007). Experiences of orphan care in Amach, Uganda: assessing policy implications. SAHARA-J: Journal of Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS. 532-543.
  • Show author(s) (2007). Experiences of orphan care in Amach, Uganda: assessing policy implications. SAHARA-J: Journal of Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS. 532-543.
  • Show author(s) (2007). Difficult choices: Infant feeding experiences of HIV-positive mothers in northern Tanzania. SAHARA-J: Journal of Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS. 544-555.
  • Show author(s) (2007). Difficult choices: Infant feeding experiences of HIV-positive mothers in northern Tanzania. SAHARA-J: Journal of Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS. 544-555.
  • Show author(s) (2007). Constraints to educational opportunities of orphans: A community-based study from northern Uganda. AIDS Care. 361-368.
  • Show author(s) (2006). The varying vulnerability of African orphans - The case of the Langi, northern Uganda. Childhood.
  • Show author(s) (2006). The varying vulnerability of African orphans - The case of the Langi, northern Uganda. Childhood. 267-284.
  • Show author(s) (2005). Article:Transforming extraordinary experiences into the concept of schizophrenia: a case-study of a Norwegian psychiatric unit. Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry : an International Journal of Critical Inquiry. 229-252.
  • Show author(s) (2005). "When the obvious brother is not there": Political and cultural contexts of the orphan challenge in northern Uganda. Social Science and Medicine. 2628-2638.
  • Show author(s) (2005). "When the obvious brother is not there": Political and cultural context of the orphan challenge in northern Uganda. Social Science and Medicine. 2628-2638.
  • Show author(s) (2004). On HIV, sex and respect: Local-global discourse encounters among the Datoga of Tanzania. African Sociological Review. 47-66.
Lecture
  • Show author(s) (2023). The access paradox in safe abortion care.
  • Show author(s) (2017). Global-national-local dynamics in studies of gender, health and the body. Examples of research collaboration between anthropologists on the margins.
  • Show author(s) (2015). North South Partnerships in Higher Education.
Popular scientific lecture
  • Show author(s) (1998). The paradigm of embodiment and its utility for the anthropological endeavour.
  • Show author(s) (1998). Samarbeid mellom lege og antropolog: Eksempler fra studier av spebarns- og mødredødelighet i Tanzania.
  • Show author(s) (1998). Kulturbundet sykdomsopplevelse og -uttrykk: medisinsk antropologiske betraktninger i afrikansk kontekst.
Academic lecture
  • Show author(s) (2018). The Access Paradox in Safe Abortion Care. The cases of Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zambia .
  • Show author(s) (2015). Helse- og sosial politikk/medisinsk antropologi.
  • Show author(s) (2013). Mediators of development? Experiences with gender and aid among gender experts in Ethiopia.
  • Show author(s) (2013). Handling PMTCT guidelines in non-choice contexts: The case of infant feeding counselling and decision making in PMTCT programmes, Tanzania.
  • Show author(s) (2011). Beyond Culture? Commitment and Structural Critique among Gender experts in Ethiopia.
  • Show author(s) (2007). The politics of mother to child transmission of HIV: global discourse and local lives.
  • Show author(s) (2007). The illusion of informed choie in prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV: Global politics in local worlds.
  • Show author(s) (2007). Hope, faith and holy water: Resistance in PMTCT programs in Addis Ababa.
  • Show author(s) (2007). Counting on mother's love: The global politics of mother to child transmission in eastern Africa.
  • Show author(s) (2007). A note on applied locally grounded research and the challenging dynamics between health related research and policy making.
  • Show author(s) (2005). Women and Datoga pastoralists of Tanzania.
  • Show author(s) (2005). Voldsutøvelse blant øst-afrikanske pastoralister: liv-død dynamikk i ny kontekst.
  • Show author(s) (2005). Vanishing tombs, barren wombs': Gendered confrontations between state forces and Datoga women, Tanzania.
  • Show author(s) (2005). Staff and community experience with HIV-related interventions: The case of prevention, treatment and care programmes at Haydom, Tanzania.
  • Show author(s) (2005). On sex, seclusion, fecundity and fate: The dynamics of sexual prohibitions within the metida/meeta complex among peoples in Hanang/Mbulu, Tanzania.
  • Show author(s) (2003). Sex and power: Experiences from an HIV intervention project in Tanzania.
  • Show author(s) (2003). Kropp, seksualitet og AIDS.
  • Show author(s) (2002). Film as intervention.
Editorial
  • Show author(s) (2010). Breastfeeding and HIV: experiences from a decade of prevention of postnatal HIV transmission in sub-Saharan Africa. International Breastfeeding Journal.
Reader opinion piece
  • Show author(s) (2020). Reproductive health and the politics of abortion. International Journal for Equity in Health. 1-4.
  • Show author(s) (2010). Ways ahead: protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding in the context of HIV. International Breastfeeding Journal.
Academic anthology/Conference proceedings
  • Show author(s) (2008). Helse i rom og tid. Cappelen Damm Akademisk.
Non-fiction book
  • Show author(s) (2005). Gender, generation and communication in times of AIDS: The potential of 'modern' and 'traditional' institutions. Proceedings from a workshop held in Bagamoyo, Tanzania, 23-25 November 2004. Centre for International Health.
Compendium
  • Show author(s) (1996). Kroppen i sosialantropologi.
Thesis at a second degree level
  • Show author(s) (2004). 'The Search for Care and Cure' - Exploring Health Seeking Behaviour in Mbulu District, Tanzania. 8.
  • Show author(s) (2004). "Nursing Care in an African Context"; A qualitative study from Haydom Lutheran Hospital, Tanzania. 9.
  • Show author(s) (1992). The pastoral Barabaig: Fertility, recycling and the social order.
Masters thesis
  • Show author(s) (2012). Purified or mutilated? The discourse on female circumcision In Hargeysa, Somaliland.
  • Show author(s) (2009). Omsorg på sykehjem. Hva handler det om?
  • Show author(s) (2009). Kontrakt - "spiseforstyrrelsens motstemme" Sykepleieres erfaringer med bruk av kontrakt som hjelpemiddel i behandling av pasienter med Anoreksia Nervosa.
  • Show author(s) (2009). Erfaringer knyttet til å leve med type 1 diabetes fra et pasientperspektiv.
  • Show author(s) (2008). The fear of mother's milk in the era of HIV: A qualitative study among HIV positive mothers and health prefessionals, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
  • Show author(s) (2008). Kommunikasjon i internasjonale katastrofesituasjoner: Norsk helsepersonells opplevelse av informasjonsutveksling under flodbølgekatastrofen i Sør-Asia i 2004. "Informasjonsflyt i norsk helsevesen under katastrofehåndtering i internasjonal sammenheng".
  • Show author(s) (2008). Infant feeding experiences of HIV positive mothers enrolled in prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) programs - The case for rural Malawi.
  • Show author(s) (2008). Challenges of living with diabetes in resource poor settings: Experiences of diabetes patients, community members and health care providers, Mbulu, northern Tanzania.
  • Show author(s) (2007). Respected Women. A Study of Wayyuu and its Implications for Womens's Sexual Rights among the Arsi Oromo of Ethiopia.
  • Show author(s) (2007). Assessing Women's Contraceptive Use. A Triangulation Study from Kilimanjaro, Tanzania.
  • Show author(s) (2006). Barriers to antiretroviral treatment adherence for patients living with HIV infections and AIDS in Arba Minch Hospital, Southern Ethiopia.
  • Show author(s) (2004). Experiences of HIV-positive pregnant women: A qualitative study from Lilongwe urban, Malawi. 5.
  • Show author(s) (2004). Assessing the impact of HIV/AIDS on informal care: A qualitative study from an urban Tanzanian context. 6.
Feature article
  • Show author(s) (2019). Kvinnekroppen som forhandlingskort. Bergens Tidende, Debattsider.
  • Show author(s) (2019). Kvinnekroppen som forhandlingskort. Bergens Tidende, Debattsider.
  • Show author(s) (2017). The paradox of access - abortion law, policy and misoprostol. Tidsskrift for Den norske legeforening. 1-6.
  • Show author(s) (2007). Apartheid i forskning. Bergens Tidende. 11.
Doctoral dissertation
  • Show author(s) (2022). Vendepunktet er den andre En kvalitativ studie av pasienters erfaring med depresjon, skam og profesjonell relasjon i psykisk helsevern . 46.
  • Show author(s) (2021). Beyond the Law - An Ethnography of Zambian Abortion Politics.
  • Show author(s) (2018). Chronic disease among women in a resource-constrained setting. The case of pelvic organ prolapse in rural Ethiopia.
  • Show author(s) (2015). Stakeholder engagement in health-related decision making. The Case of Prevention of Mother-to-Child HIV Transmission in Tanzania.
  • Show author(s) (2015). Scrutinizing care in nursing practice: An ethnographic study of nurse-mother interaction in programmes to prevent HIV transmission from mother to child in Tanzania.
  • Show author(s) (2005). The challenge of orphans in the era of AIDS : assessing community experience in Uganda.
  • Show author(s) (2000). Precarious Procreation. Datoga Pastoralists at the Late 20th Century.
Interview
  • Show author(s) (2004). Intervju om kulturelle faktorers invirkning på spredning av HIV i Øst-Afrika i "Magasinet".
  • Show author(s) (2004). Intervju om et kulturspesifikt HIV-forebyggende filmprosjekt i Øst-Afrika.
Documentary
  • Show author(s) (2004). Datoga aeshegeda UKIMWI! (Datoga, let's beware AIDS!): A culture specific HIV prevention film targeting Datoga communities in Tanzania (58 min.).
Programme participation
  • Show author(s) (2004). Intervju om kultur og AIDS i Kenya/Tanzania.
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
  • Show author(s) (2024). Anthropology of abortion. 16 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2018). Globally designed accountability and local social inequality. A case study of two maternal deaths in Tanzania. 19 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2009). Counting on Mother's Love: The Global Politics of Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV in Eastern Africa. 33 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2007). On HIV, sex and respect: Local-global discourse encounters among Datoga in Tanzania. 23 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2005). Noen tanker om positivisme i kvalitativ forskning. 17 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2005). Fertile mortal links: Reconsidering Datoga violence. 19 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2005). Employing film in HIV prevention: a culture specific film from Mbulu/Hanang, Tanzania. 6 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2004). Datoga. 10 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2000). Challenging encounters: Datoga lives in independent Tanzania. 24 pages.
  • Show author(s) (2000). Challenging encounters: Datoga lives in independent Tanzania. 24 pages.
  • Show author(s) (1999). "We are as sheep and goats": Iraqw and Datooga discourses on fortune, failure, and the future. 22 pages.
  • Show author(s) (1999). "We are as sheep and goats": Iraqw and Datooga discourses on fortune, failure and the future. 22 pages.
  • Show author(s) (1999). "We are as sheep and goats": Iraqw and Datooga discourses on fortune, failure and the future. 22 pages.
  • Show author(s) (1999). "Dealing with men's spears": Datooga pastoralists combating male intrusion on female fertility. 37 pages.
  • Show author(s) (1999). "Dealing with men's spears": Datooga pastoralists combating male intrusion on female fertility. 37 pages.
  • Show author(s) (1996). La Chant qui Revielle la Terre.
  • Show author(s) (1996). La Chant qui Reveille la Terre. 4 pages.
  • Show author(s) (1996). "Do Give us Children": The Problem of Fertility among the Pastoral Barbayiig of Tanzania'.
  • Show author(s) (1996). "Do Give us Children": The Problem of Fertility among the Pastoral Barbayiig of Tanzania. 23 pages.
  • Show author(s) (1995). Peril or penalty: AIDS in the context of social change among the Barabaig. 21 pages.
  • Show author(s) (1995). Peril or Penalty: AIDS in the context of social change among the Barabaig. 21 pages.
Other
  • Show author(s) (2005). Employing film in HIV prevention: a culture specific film from Mbulu/Hanang. 85-90.
Abstract
  • Show author(s) (2013). SUCCESSFUL USE OF PLERIXAFOR IN HARD TO MOBILIZE PATIENTS - FOLLOWING HIGH DOSE THERAPY ALL PATIENTS DEVELOPED FAST AND SUSTAINED ENGRAFTMENT WITH DURABLE CLINICAL RESPONSES. Cytotherapy. S24-S24.
  • Show author(s) (2011). Perceived unfairness in working conditions: the case of public health services in Tanzania. Tropical medicine & international health. 89-89.
  • Show author(s) (2011). Financial incentives for health worker motivation: the case of health services in Tanzania. Tropical medicine & international health. 341-341.
  • Show author(s) (2011). 'What counts': health workers' preferences for public health facilities or church-run health facilities in Tanzania. Tropical medicine & international health. 340-340.
Poster
  • Show author(s) (2017). High participation in cluster randomized controlled trial on the effectiveness of a girls’ empowerment programme in rural Zambia .
  • Show author(s) (2013). 'There is no choice in this area'. Nurse counselling in prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV programmes in Tanzania.
  • Show author(s) (2013). 'There is no choice in this area'. Nurse counselling in prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV programmes in Tanzania.
  • Show author(s) (2008). Assessment of the WHO responsiveness tool: lessons from voluntary testing and counselling for HIV in Kenya.
  • Show author(s) (2007). Choice and adherence to choice of infant feeding method among HIV positive mothers in northern Tanzania.
Visual Arts
  • Show author(s) (2006). Eshageada UKIMWI Datoga (Datoga let's beware AIDS!). 2nd version.
Academic literature review
  • Show author(s) (2012). Assessing performance enhancing tools: experiences with the open performance review and appraisal system (OPRAS) and expectations towards payment for performance (P4P) in the public health sector in Tanzania. Globalization and Health. 13 pages.
Interview Journal
  • Show author(s) (2007). Hindrer hiv fra grasrota. Hubro. Magasin for Universitetet i Bergen. 13-14.

More information in national current research information system (CRIStin)

Publications in PubMed

Blystad has been PI for a number of externally funded research projects:  

PI for the project: Reporting in context: An interdisciplinary initiative to strengthen maternal health services and surveillance in Ethiopia and Tanzania (MATRISET). Research Council of Norway, 2021-26.  Brief description: The objective of the project is to improve the quality of maternal mortality reporting and reviewing to strengthen the knowledge on which to base remedial action to reduce maternal deaths.

PI for the project:  Competing discourses impacting girls' and women's rights: Fertility control and safe abortion in Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zambia (SAFEZT). Research Council of Norway, 2016-18. Brief description:  This comparative, inter disciplinary project investigated the articulation between national abortion laws and women and girl’s access to safe abortion services in Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zambia.

Co-PI for the project: Gender in poverty reduction: Critical explorations of Norwegian aid policy on gender equality and women’s rights.  Research Council of Norway, 2012-16. PI: Professor H. Haukanes, UoB. Brief description: The project explored the concepts of ‘gender equality’ and ‘women’s rights’ in Ethiopia through a focus on the gender paradigms that have characterized Norwegian development aid since the mid-1990s. A collaborative venture between the University of Bergen, Chr. Michelsen Institute and Haraldsplass Deaconess University College, Norway and Addis Ababa University.

PI for the project: Gender, generation and social mobilisation: Challenges of reproductive health and rights among vulnerable groups in Sudan, Tanzania and Ethiopia’ (GESOMO NUFU). Norwegian Centre for International Cooperation in Higher Education (NUFU), 2007-12. Brief description: This interdisciplinary and multi-country competence-building project had a research focus on a series of particularly challenging reproductive health challenges; female genital mutilation, infertility, mother to child transmission of HIV, obstetric fistulae and women’s sexual rights in Sudan, Tanzania and Ethiopia.

PI for the project: Strengthening Human Resources for Health: A study of health worker availability and performance in Tanzania.  Research Council of Norway, 2006-12. Brief description: The project was a strategic initiative to address the what has been coined the problem of ‘shortage of health personnel and poor health worker performance’. It was a collaborative effort between Centre for International Health and Department of Economics, UoB, Chr. Michelsen Institute, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration and Bergen University College.

PI for the project: ‘Gender, Generation and Communication in Times of AIDS: The Potential of ’Modern’ and ’Traditional’ Institutions’ (GEACA). Norwegian Centre for International Cooperation in Higher Education (NUFU), 2002-07. Brief description: The dramatic HIV/AIDS situation in Tanzania.

Coordinator for work package V and all qualitative project components: Health Related Priority Setting in Tanzania, Zambia and Kenya’ (REACT). EU funding, 2005-10. PI: Dr. J. Byskov. Brief description: With deliberative public involvement as a starting point the project explored decision making- and priority setting processes with a particular focus on the District health systems in Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia.

Coordinator for work package III: ‘Searching for effective HIV-prevention and care in sub-Saharan Africa: focusing on local contexts’. Norwegian Research Council, 2004-10. PI: Professor K. Fylkesnes. Brief description: A key research focus was on the dynamics between global WHO so-called PMTCT guidelines, calling for breast milk substitutes as first choice for mothers in contexts where a limited segment of the population can afford breast milk substitutes. 

2000  PhD:  Doctor Politicarum in Social Anthropology, University of Bergen (UoB)  

1995-96: Visiting Research Fellow in Medical Anthropology, Dep. of Social Medicine, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA

1992 Master: Candidatus Politicarum in Social Anthropology and Health and Social Policy  (Subsidiary Fields: Comparative Religion and Nursing, UoB)

1981-84 Registered Nurse (RN): Aust-Agder Nursing College, Aren­dal, Norway

Fields of competence