Harnessing Statistical Modeling to Advance Public Health: The Work of Tahiru Mahama

Across Africa, one of the greatest hurdles in public health is not simply the spread of disease, but the scarcity and fragmentation of reliable data. For Tahiru Mahama, a Ghanaian statistician whose career has spanned from Kumasi to El Paso, statistics is more than an academic pursuit; it is a weapon against health inequality.

During his graduate studies at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), Mahama immersed himself in Bayesian hierarchical modeling and survival analysis, methods capable of extracting truth from incomplete datasets that often characterize health systems in resource-limited settings.

Mahama’s determination to bring relevance to statistical modeling took root as an undergraduate at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), where he undertook a pioneering project on malaria in children under five. His work underscored how statistical models could illuminate risk factors and guide interventions that save lives.

“Most statisticians chase elegant equations,” observes Dr. Kwame Osei, a Ghanaian epidemiologist. “But Tahiru was chasing an impact. He wanted models that ministers of health could pin to the wall and say: This tells us where to act, and how many children we can save.”

At UTEP, Mahama expanded his focus to include survival analysis, uncovering how disease progression could be tracked more effectively in under-resourced environments. This type of work, which allows policymakers to better anticipate the course of illnesses like HIV and malaria, holds implications far beyond the classroom.

“He is redefining what it means to be a statistician in global health,” says Dr. Miguel Hernandez, a public health researcher at UTEP. “Bayesian models let us see through the fog of missing data. In a region where every data point can mean a life, that’s nothing short of revolutionary.”

What makes Mahama’s contribution so significant is not just methodological innovation but policy impact. His work illustrates how rigorous modeling can directly inform the allocation of scarce resources, whether for malaria control, HIV treatment, or the growing challenge of chronic disease management.

“He is not content with publishing papers,” notes Prof. Evelyn Boateng, one of his early mentors at KNUST. “Tahiru is building a bridge between science and policy. His models are designed to move off the page and into the ministries, hospitals, and communities where they can change outcomes.”