Alison Comfort, PhD

Assoc RES-FY
Ob/Gyn, Reproductive Sciences
[email protected]

Alison Comfort is an Assistant Professor at UCSF in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences. Trained as a health economist, she seeks to identify individual and social network factors affecting care-seeking decisions and health outcomes, both here in the United States and in countries including Uganda and Madagascar. She has evaluated the role of social networks related to health knowledge and behaviors including infant HIV testing, anti-retroviral therapy adherence, contraceptive decision-making, COVID-19 vaccine uptake, and antenatal care-seeking. Ultimately, her research aims to inform the design of social network-informed interventions to ensure access to reproductive health care and HIV treatment and prevention especially in low-resource settings.

Publications: 

Social networks and HIV treatment adherence among people with HIV initiating treatment in rural Uganda and peri-urban South Africa.

SSM - population health

Comfort AB, Asiimwe S, Amaniyre G, Orrell C, Moody J, Musinguzi N, Bwana MB, Bangsberg DR, Haberer JE, Tsai AC, META Study Investigators

Provision of DMPA-SC for self-administration in different practice settings during the COVID-19 pandemic: Data from providers across the United States.

Contraception

Comfort AB, Alvarez A, Goodman S, Upadhyay U, Mengesha B, Karlin J, Shokat M, Blum M, Harper CC

Male circumcision uptake and misperceived norms about male circumcision: Cross-sectional, population-based study in rural Uganda.

Journal of global health

Perkins JM, Kakuhikire B, Baguma C, Jeon S, Walker SF, Dongre R, Kyokunda V, Juliet M, Satinsky EN, Comfort AB, Siedner MJ, Ashaba S, Tsai AC

"She should support me, she's my doctor:" Patient perceptions of agency in contraceptive decision-making in the clinical encounter in Northern California.

Perspectives on sexual and reproductive health

Rao L, Rocca CH, Muñoz I, Chambers BD, Devaskar S, Asiodu IV, Stern L, Blum M, Comfort AB, Harper CC

Perceived norms about male circumcision and personal circumcision status: a cross-sectional, population-based study in rural Uganda.

medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences

Perkins JM, Kakuhikire B, Baguma C, Jeon S, Walker SF, Dongre R, Kyokunda V, Juliet M, Satinsky EN, Comfort AB, Siedner M, Ashaba S, Tsai AC

The role of informational support from women's social networks on antenatal care initiation: qualitative evidence from pregnant women in Uganda.

BMC pregnancy and childbirth

Comfort AB, El Ayadi AM, Camlin CS, Tsai AC, Nalubwama H, Byamugisha J, Walker DM, Moody J, Roberts T, Senoga U, Krezanoski PJ, Harper CC

Telehealth for Contraceptive Services During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Provider Perspectives.

Women's health issues : official publication of the Jacobs Institute of Women's Health

Rao L, Comfort AB, Dojiri SS, Goodman S, Yarger J, Shah N, Folse C, Blum M, Hankin J, Harper CC

Social and provider networks and women's contraceptive use: Evidence from Madagascar.

Contraception

Comfort AB, Harper CC, Tsai AC, Moody J, Perkins JM, Rasolofomana JR, Alperin C, Ranjalahy AN, Heriniaina R, Krezanoski PJ

Mental health among outpatient reproductive health care providers during the US COVID-19 epidemic.

Reproductive health

Comfort AB, Krezanoski PJ, Rao L, El Ayadi A, Tsai AC, Goodman S, Harper CC

The association between men's family planning networks and contraceptive use among their female partners: an egocentric network study in Madagascar.

BMC public health

Comfort AB, Harper CC, Tsai AC, Perkins JM, Moody J, Rasolofomana JR, Alperin C, Schultz M, Ranjalahy AN, Heriniaina R, Krezanoski PJ

Implementation science: Scaling a training intervention to include IUDs and implants in contraceptive services in primary care.

Preventive medicine

Harper CC, Comfort AB, Blum M, Rocca CH, McCulloch CE, Rao L, Shah N, Oquendo Del Toro H, Goodman S

Improving Capacity at School-based Health Centers to Offer Adolescents Counseling and Access to Comprehensive Contraceptive Services.

Journal of pediatric and adolescent gynecology

Comfort AB, Rao L, Goodman S, Barney A, Glymph A, Schroeder R, McCulloch C, Harper CC

The impact of pill counting on resource-limited health facilities: a thematic qualitative analysis in eSwatini.

Health policy and planning

Krezanoski JD, Matshotyana K, Nxumalo N, Comfort AB, Khumalo P, Krezanoski PJ

Comparison of traditional methods versus SAFEcount for filling prescriptions: A pilot study of an innovative pill counting solution in eSwatini.

PloS one

Krezanoski PJ, Krezanoski JD, Nxumalo N, Gabert R, Comfort AB, Khumalo P, Matshotyana K

Do home pregnancy tests bring women to community health workers for antenatal care counselling? A randomized controlled trial in Madagascar.

Health policy and planning

Comfort AB, Juras RC, Bradley SEK, Ranjalahy Rasolofomanana J, Noeliarivelo Ranjalahy A, Harper CC

Extending health insurance coverage to the informal sector: Lessons from a private micro health insurance scheme in Lagos, Nigeria.

The International journal of health planning and management

Peterson L, Comfort A, Hatt L, van Bastelaer T

Exploring the use of routinely-available, retrospective data to study the association between malaria control scale-up and micro-economic outcomes in Zambia.

Malaria journal

Comfort A, Leegwater A, Nakhimovsky S, Kansembe H, Hamainza B, Bwalya B, Alilio M, Johns B, Olsho L

A false dichotomy: RCTs and their contributions to evidence-based public health.

Global health, science and practice

Hatt LE, Chatterji M, Miles L, Comfort AB, Bellows BW, Okello FO

Association between malaria control and paediatric blood transfusions in rural Zambia: an interrupted time-series analysis.

Malaria journal

Comfort AB, van Dijk JH, Mharakurwa S, Stillman K, Johns B, Hathi P, Korde S, Craig AS, Nachbar N, Derriennic Y, Gabert R, Thuma PE

Households with young children and use of freely distributed bednets in rural Madagascar.

International health

Krezanoski PJ, Comfort AB, Tsai AC, Bangsberg DR

Financial incentives and maternal health: where do we go from here?

Journal of health, population, and nutrition

Morgan L, Stanton ME, Higgs ES, Balster RL, Bellows BW, Brandes N, Comfort AB, Eichler R, Glassman A, Hatt LE, Conlon CM, Koblinsky M

Hospitalizations and costs incurred at the facility level after scale-up of malaria control: pre-post comparisons from two hospitals in Zambia.

The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene

Comfort AB, van Dijk JH, Mharakurwa S, Stillman K, Gabert R, Korde S, Nachbar N, Derriennic Y, Musau S, Hamazakaza P, Zyambo KD, Zyongwe NM, Hamainza B, Thuma PE

Role: 
Investigators