Publications

Bapolisi W, Makelele J, Kono-Tange L, Bisimwa G, Merten S. Exploring the impact of combining women’s empowerment through village savings and loans associations with men’s sensitization on gender equity on socio-economic, maternal, and children’s health outcomes. Community Dev J. 2025;60(1):181-199. DOI: 10.1093/cdj/bsad033

Condori-Catachura S, Ahannach S, Ticlla M, Kenfack J, Livo E, Anukam K.C, Pinedo-Cancino V, Collado M.C, Dominguez-Bello M.G, Miller C, Vinderola G, Merten S, Donders G.G.G, Gehrmann T, Lebeer S. Diversity in women and their vaginal microbiota. Trends Microbiol. 2025(in press). DOI: 10.1016/j.tim.2024.12.012

Ikuteyijo O.O, Zepro N, Akinyemi A.I, Probst-Hensch N, Merten S. Socio-economic factors influencing intimate partner violence among adolescents and young women in sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review. Public Health Rev. 2025;45:1607041. DOI: 10.3389/phrs.2024.1607041

Bapolisi W.A, Dumbaugh M, Felber S, Bisimwa G, Merten S. Family planning in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo: personal beliefs, intimate partner negotiations and social pressure. Cult Health Sex. 2024;26(11):1365-1379. DOI: 10.1080/13691058.2024.2321911

Bapolisi W.A, Makelele J, Ferrari G, Kono-Tange L, Bisimwa G, Schindler C, Merten S. Engaging men in women's empowerment: impact of a complex gender transformative intervention on household socio-economic and health outcomes in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo using a longitudinal survey. BMC Public Health. 2024;24:443. DOI: 10.1186/s12889-024-17717-5

Ekou F.K, Eze I.C, Aka J, Kwiatkowski M, Merten S, Acka F.K, Fink G, Utzinger J, Probst-Hensch N. Randomised controlled trial on the effect of social support on disease control, mental health and health-related quality of life in people with diabetes from Côte d'Ivoire: the SoDDiCo study protocol. BMJ Open. 2024;14(1):e069934. DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-069934

Erhardt R.M, Jafflin K, Zepro N, Abongomera C, Chernet A, Paris D.H, Merten S. Obstetric outcomes of Eritrean immigrants in Switzerland: a comparative study. Int J Public Health. 2024;69:1606745. DOI: 10.3389/ijph.2024.1606745

Ikuteyijo O.O, Aliyu T.K, Akinyemi A.I, Ikuteyijo L.O, Ogunoye O.R, Obasola O.I, Abe J.O, Mobolaji J.W, Ekundayo O.O, Agunbiade O.M, Merten S. Demand and supply of adolescent and young adult’s sexual and reproductive health services during COVID-19 in sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review. Int J Popul Stud. 2024;10(1):21-33. DOI: 10.36922/ijps.366

Ikuteyijo O.O, Martin Hilber A, Fatusi A.O, Akinyemi A.I, Merten S. Stakeholders’ engagement with law to address gender-based violence in southwest Nigeria: a qualitative study using normalisation process theory to explore implementation challenges. BMJ Public Health. 2024;2(2):e001326. DOI: 10.1136/bmjph-2024-001326

Kaiser-Grolimund A, Schwind B, Kämpfen L, Morgan A.L, Spitale G, Biller-Andorno N, Merten S. Soliciting diaries for "real-time" insights into the COVID-19 pandemic: methodological reflections on using digital technologies to engage the public. Int J Public Health. 2024;69:1606912. DOI: 10.3389/ijph.2024.1606912

Nyabundi A.A, Nyambedha E.O, Merten S, Ombere S.O. Contextual challenges experienced by CHVs in the informal use of mobile phones within integrated community case management (ICCM) in Nyaguda sub-location, western Kenya. Humanit Soc Sci Commun. 2024;11:1689. DOI: 10.1057/s41599-024-04124-9

Owolodun B, Gmür D, Felber S, Ollier C, Haller T, Merten S. From diversity to uniformity: comparing nutritional transition of food consumption in four regions in Senegal. Food Cult Soc. 2024:1-25. DOI: 10.1080/15528014.2024.2310380

Schwind B, Merten S, Hollenstein E, Wyss K, Gerold J. Formen interprofessioneller Zusammenarbeit in der ambulanten Gesundheitsversorgung: eine fallübergreifende Analyse in der deutschsprachigen Schweiz. Praxis (Bern 1994). 2024;113(2):28-33

Spitale G, Biller-Andorno N, Germani F, Merten S. Digital democracy and emergency preparedness: engaging the public in public health. Int J Public Health. 2024;69:1608004. DOI: 10.3389/ijph.2024.1608004

Zepro N.B, Medhanyie A.A, Probst-Hensch N, Chernet A, Tschopp R, Abongomera C, Paris D.H, Merten S. Navigating challenges: a socioecological analysis of sexual and reproductive health barriers among Eritrean refugee women in Ethiopia, using a key informant approach. BMJ Open. 2024;14(4):e080654. DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-080654

Bapolisi W.A, Bisimwa G, Merten S. Barriers to family planning use in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo: an application of the theory of planned behaviour using a longitudinal survey. BMJ Open. 2023;13(2):e061564. DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-061564

Bytyçi-Katanolli A, Obas K.A, Ramadani Q, Fota N, Jerliu N, Merten S, Gerold J, Zahorka M, Kwiatkowski M, Probst-Hensch N. Effectiveness of behavioural change interventions on physical activity, diet and body mass index of public primary healthcare users in Kosovo: the KOSCO cohort. BMJ Open. 2023;13(10):e071100. DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-071100

Ferrari G, Lwamushi S.M, Balaluka G.B, Lafta R.K, Schindler C, Bugugu D, Lurhangire E, Tediosi F, Mendoza J.R, Merten S. Understanding context of violence against healthcare through citizen science and evaluating the effectiveness of a co-designed code of conduct and of a tailored de-escalation of violence training in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and Iraq: a study p. Trials. 2023;24:814. DOI: 10.1186/s13063-023-07839-3

Ikuteyijo O.O, Kaiser-Grolimund A, Fetters M.D, Akinyemi A.I, Merten S. Health providers' response to female adolescent survivors of sexual and gender-based violence and demand side barriers in the utilization of support services in urban low-income communities of Nigeria. Healthcare (Basel). 2023;11(19):2627. DOI: 10.3390/healthcare11192627

Künzli N, Woodrow C, Berger A, Czabanowska K, Iacoviello L, Lucas R, Madarasova Geckova A, Merten S, Knesebeck O.V.D, Mantwill S, Panico S, Osorio L, Ribeiro A.I, Chiodini P, Suggs L.S, Coulibaly J. Chocolate eaters do not necessarily win a Nobel Prize - authors in special issues do not necessarily publish lower quality papers. Int J Public Health. 2023;68:1606967. DOI: 10.3389/ijph.2023.1606967

Lee T.T, Dalvie M.A, Röösli M, Merten S, Kwiatkowski M, Mahomed H, Sweijd N, Cissé G. Understanding diarrhoeal diseases in response to climate variability and drought in Cape Town, South Africa: a mixed methods approach. Infect Dis Poverty. 2023;12:76. DOI: 10.1186/s40249-023-01127-7

Makali S.L, Lembebu J.C, Boroto R, Zalinga C.C, Bugugu D, Lurhangire E, Rosine B, Chimanuka C, Mwene-Batu P, Molima C, Mendoza J.R, Ferrari G, Merten S, Bisimwa G. Violence against health care workers in a crisis context: a mixed cross-sectional study in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Confl Health. 2023;17:44. DOI: 10.1186/s13031-023-00541-w

Merten S, Haller T. Interwoven landscapes: gender and land in the Kafue Flats, Zambia. Land. 2023;12(9):1657. DOI: 10.3390/land12091657

Merten S. Planning familial - un droit ouvert à tous. Berne: Commission fédérale pour les questions familiales COFF, 2023. Policy Brief

Merten S. Pianificazione familiare: un diritto per tutti. Berna: Commissione federale per le questioni familiari COFF, 2023. Policy Brief

Merten S. Familienplanung – ein Recht für alle. Bern: Eidgenössische Kommission für Familienfragen EKFF, 2023. Policy Brief

Oehri J, Chernet A, Merten S, Sydow V, Paris D.H. Improving primary healthcare access for asylum seekers and refugees: a qualitative study from a Swiss family physician perspective. J Prim Care Community Health. 2023;14:21501319231181878. DOI: 10.1177/21501319231181878

Ombere S.O, Nyambedha E.O, Haller T, Merten S. Anti-politics and free maternal health services in Kilifi County, Kenya. Afr Stud. 2023;82(1):85-97. DOI: 10.1080/00020184.2023.2241833

Ombere S.O, Nyambedha E.O, Haller T, Merten S. Local perspectives on policy implementation of free maternity health services in Kenya: implications for universal health coverage. Afr J Reprod Health. 2023;27(5s):71-81. DOI: 10.29063/ajrh2023/v27i5s.9

Owolodun B, Merten S. Food security from the forest: the case of the commodification of baobab fruit (Adansonia digitata L.) in Boundou Region, Senegal. Land. 2023;12(7):1423. DOI: 10.3390/land12071423

Schwarz J, Merten S. 'The body is difficult': reproductive navigation through sociality and corporeality in rural Burundi. Cult Health Sex. 2023;25(1):78-93. DOI: 10.1080/13691058.2021.2020904

Schwind B, Zemp E, Jafflin K, Späth A, Barth M, Maigetter K, Merten S, Kurth E. "But at home, with the midwife, you are a person": experiences and impact of a new early postpartum home-based midwifery care model in the view of women in vulnerable family situations. BMC Health Serv Res. 2023;23:375. DOI: 10.1186/s12913-023-09352-4

Shrikhande S.S, Merten S, Cambaco O, Lee T, Lakshmanasamy R, Röösli M, Dalvie M.A, Utzinger J, Cissé G. "Climate change and health?": Knowledge and perceptions among key stakeholders in Puducherry, India. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023;20(6):4703. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph20064703

Shrikhande S.S, Merten S, Cambaco O, Lee T.T, Lakshmanasamy R, Röösli M, Dalvie M.A, Utzinger J, Cissé G. Barriers to climate change and health research in India: a qualitative study. BMJ Open. 2023;13(10):e073381. DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-073381

Wüthrich-Grossenbacher U, Mutsinze A, Wolf U, Maponga C.C, Midzi N, Mutsaka-Makuvaza M.J, Merten S. A validation of the religious and spiritual struggles scale among young people living with HIV in Zimbabwe: Mokken scale analysis and exploratory factor analysis. Front Psychol. 2023;4:1051455. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1051455

Wüthrich-Grossenbacher U, Mutsinze A, Wolf U, Maponga C.C, Midzi N, Mutsaka-Makuvaza M.J, Merten S. Spiritual and religious aspects influence mental health and viral load: a quantitative study among young people living with HIV in Zimbabwe. BMJ Glob Health. 2023;8(8):e012671. DOI: 10.1136/bmjgh-2023-012671

Zepro N.B, Ali N.T, Tarr N, Medhanyie A.A, Paris D.H, Probst-Hensch N, Merten S. Sexual and reproductive health services use among adolescents in pastoralist settings, northeastern Ethiopia. BMC Health Serv Res. 2023;23:677. DOI: 10.1186/s12913-023-09616-z

Bytyçi Katanolli A, Merten S, Kwiatkowski M, Obas K, Gerold J, Zahorka M, Jerliu N, Ramadani Q, Fota N, Probst-Hensch N. Non-communicable disease prevention in Kosovo: quantitative and qualitative assessment of uptake and barriers of an intervention for healthier lifestyles in primary healthcare. BMC Health Serv Res. 2022;22:647. DOI: 10.1186/s12913-022-07969-5

Bytyçi Katanolli A, Probst-Hensch N, Obas K.A, Gerold J, Zahorka M, Jerliu N, Ramadani Q, Fota N, Merten S. Perceived barriers to physical activity behaviour among patients with diabetes and hypertension in Kosovo: a qualitative study. BMC Prim Care. 2022;23:257. DOI: 10.1186/s12875-022-01866-w

Darkhawaja R.A.M, Kwiatkowski M, Vermes T, Allabadi H, Merten S, Alkaiyat A, Probst-Hensch N. Exploring the role of social capital, self-efficacy and social contagion in shaping lifestyle and mental health among students representing the future healthcare workforce in Palestine: social cohort study protocol. BMJ Open. 2022;12:e049033. DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-049033