Mzantsi Wakho (‘Your South Africa’) is based in the Amathole District of the Eastern Cape. Its academic homes are Universities of Cape Town and Oxford. The study seeks to answer several research questions about youth health, with a focus on medicines-taking and sexual and reproductive health. It uses multiple methods and data sources to identify and investigate risk and resilience-promoting
factors, through linked qualitative and quantitative studies. In this first episode we speak to Rebecca Hodes who is the principal investigator of Mzantsi Wakho’s qualitative research. She is the Director of the AIDS and Society Research Unit, University of Cape Town, and an Honourary Affiliate of the Department of Social Policy and Investigation, Oxford University. Hodes studied history at Rhodes University, and received an M.Sc in the History of Medicine, Science and Technology and a D.Phil from Oxford University.