Dr Alain Amstutz is part of the BRCCH-funded MistraL project, which investigates mitigation strategies for the COVID-19 pandemic in Lesotho. He is responsible for community-based intervention and supports the implementation of the project in the districts.

Dr Amstutz is a physician by training and is currently enrolled in a PhD (Clinical Research) at the University of Basel and the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), which is funded by the SNSF/SAMW MD-PhD scholarship. His research focuses on how to control the HIV epidemic in Lesotho using innovative methods assessed in randomized trials, such as HIV self-testing, decentralization of ART delivery and differentiated service delivery for adolescents. Furthermore, one of his randomized controlled trials investigates low-level viremia in order to challenge the current WHO definition of virologic failure. He is eager to leverage lessons learned from the HIV epidemic for the COVID-19 response.

Dr Amstutz has been living in Lesotho for more than three years. He has fallen in love with the country and its people and still enjoys papa le moroho.