Africa Health Agenda International Conference (AHAIC) 2023

Dr Githinji Gitahi

A passionate advocate for pro-poor Universal Health Coverage, Githinji Gitahi joined Amref Health Africa as the Global Chief Executive Officer in June 2015. Amref Health Africa, founded in 1957, is the largest Africa-led international organization, reaching more than 11 million people each year through 150 health-focused projects across 35 countries.

Until his appointment to Amref Health Africa, Dr Gitahi was the Vice President and Regional Director for Africa, Smile Train International. Prior to that, Dr Gitahi was Managing Director for Monitor Publications in Uganda as well as General Manager for Marketing and Circulation in East Africa for the Nation Media Group. He held progressively senior positions at GlaxoSmithKline and worked at the Avenue Group.

Dr Gitahi is the former Co-Chair of the UHC2030 Steering Committee, a global World Bank and World Health Organization (WHO) initiative for Universal Health Coverage (UHC); and has recently been appointed as the Co-Chair Strategic Advocacy Committee PMNCH and a member of the Unilever Sustainability Advisory Council. He serves on a number of Boards, notably – Board of Directors of The Standard Group in Kenya, Board of Trustees of Safaricom Foundation and Governing Board of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and prevention (Africa CDC). He is also a member of the Commission/Taskforce on Africa’s COVID-19 Response. Dr Gitahi holds a bachelor’s degree in Medicine from the University of Nairobi, a master’s degree in Business Administration from the United States International University, as well as a Certificate for Strategic Perspectives for Nonprofit Management from Harvard University.

In December 2018, Dr. Gitahi was bestowed the 2018 ‘Moran of the Order of the Burning Spear’ (MBS) by the President of Kenya, in recognition of his outstanding contribution and commitment to the health sector.

Dr Matshidiso Moeti

Dr Matshidiso Rebecca Moeti is the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Africa. She is the first woman to be elected to this position and is now in her second term. Over the past six years, Dr Moeti has led a Transformation Agenda that is widely acknowledged to have improved WHO’s performance on emergencies, enhancing accountability, and driving progress towards Universal Health Coverage. She leads WHO’s support to the COVID19 pandemic response in Africa.

Dr Moeti is a medical doctor and public health expert, with more than 42 years of experience.

Under her leadership, tremendous progress has been made. Wild poliovirus was kicked out of Africa in 2020 – this is the second disease to be eradicated from the Region after smallpox 40 years ago. Investments in areas such as surveillance, training, innovation, community engagement and partnerships, have improved country capacities to prepare for and respond to health emergencies, and outbreaks of diseases like COVID-19 and Ebola. More broadly, recognition of the need for strong and resilient health systems to manage external shocks, like health emergencies, is building. Most African countries are pursuing reforms to achieve Universal Health Coverage – to expand access to services with attention to equity and reaching the most vulnerable people.

Since 1999 she has held several senior positions with WHO in the African Region. Dr Moeti successfully led WHO’s “3 by 5” Initiative to expand access to antiretroviral therapy in African countries. Prior to joining WHO, Dr Moeti worked with UNAIDS, UNICEF and Botswana’s Ministry of Health.

In recognition of her excellent service to humanity, Dr Moeti has received many accolades and honorary fellowships from renowned academic intuitions. She is a great champion for women in leadership in global health.

Dr. Ahmed Ogwell Ouma

Dr Ahmed Ogwell OUMA is currently the Acting Director of Africa CDC. He is also the founding Deputy Director, and, in these roles, he has led the strategic work and oversight of Africa CDC. He works closely with African Union Member States and partners to deliver on the mandate of Africa CDC of preventing and controlling diseases in Africa. Ahmed has led the operations of Africa CDC during the COVID-19 pandemic, coordinating the planning, acquisition, and delivery of life-saving health products to African countries including test kits, personal protective materials, therapeutics, and vaccines. Formerly, he worked with the WHO at both the HQs and Regional Office for Africa, in combating NCDs & tobacco control. Prior to that, Dr. Ahmed worked at country level in the Ministry of Health, Kenya, as Director for NCDs and then Head of the Office for International Health Relations. He has been at the forefront of advocacy and action to reform the health system in Africa including the need to establish an efficient & effective response mechanism for disease threats and health emergencies. He has over 25 years’ experience in public health and is an alumnus of the University of Nairobi in Kenya and the University of Bergen in Norway.

Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana

Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana is the Minister of Health of Rwanda since November 2022.He previously served as Director General of the University teaching hospital of Butare and the Rwanda Biomedical Centre. He holds extensive experience in infectious disease and non communicable diseases programs design, strategic planning and implementation science.

Dr. Sabin holds a Medical Degree (MD) and a Master’s Degree in Clinical Epidemiology from the University of Rwanda; a PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Basel, Switzerland.

Dr. Sabin served as Principal Investigator for several large research projects, including clinical trials in Rwanda and multi-country research collaborations.He is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburg and African Scientific Institute. He serves as adjunct Assistant Professor of Global Health Delivery at the University of Global Health Equity (UGHE) and Teaches Clinical Epidemiology and research methodology at the University of Rwanda.

Dr. Alaa Murabit

UN High-Level Commissioner: Health, Employment, Economic Growth

UN SDG Global Advocate

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: PAC Health Director

Dr. Alaa Murabit a medical doctor, global health and security expert and strategist, women’s rights advocate, and United Nations High-Level Commissioner on Health Employment and Economic Growth. Alaa is one of 17 Sustainable Development Goal Advocates appointed by the UN Secretary-General due to her leadership on establishing and advancing the SDGs, and a 2020–2021 Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. She leads The Gates Foundation’s Global Policy and Advocacy Health work, in partnership with the Global Health and Global Development divisions. Her work has shaped policies in over 190 countries and impacted the lives of billions.

Alaa previously founded the women’s rights organization Voice of Libyan Women in 2011 at the age of 21 and later founded an accelerator for emerging women’s leadership in security, health, peacebuilding, and policy. Her TED Talk, “What My Religion Really Says About Women,” has been viewed nearly 7 million times. In 2016, she became executive director of Phase Minus 1, providing thought leadership in emerging security and inclusive security. Alaa is the recipient of 100+ honors and awards, including the Canadian Meritorious Service Cross, BBC 100 Women, Forbes 30 Under 30, CNN Leaders You Should Know, Nelson Mandela International Changemaker Award, and was the youngest Harvard Law’s Women Inspiring Change honoree. She is an MIT Media Lab Director’s Fellow and serves on the board of the Malala Fund. Alaa received an M.D. from the University of Zawia in Libya and an MSc in International Strategy and Diplomacy, with Distinction, from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Vanessa Nakate

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Prof. Agnes Binagwaho

Professor Agnes Binagwaho, MD, M(Ped), PHD currently resides in Rwanda. She is the retired Vice Chancellor and co-founder of the University of Global Health Equity (UGHE) (in 2015), an initiative of Partners In Health based in Rwanda which focuses on changing how health care is delivered around the world by training global health professionals who strive to deliver more equitable, quality health services for all. She is a Rwandan pediatrician who returned to Rwanda in 1996, two years after the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi. Previously, she has provided clinical care in the public sector and has served the Rwandan health sector (1996-2016) in high-level government positions, first as the Executive Secretary of Rwanda’s National AIDS Control Commission, then as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, and lastly as Minister of Health for five years. She is a Professor of Pediatrics at UGHE, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and an Adjunct Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine. She is member of multiple editorial, advisory and directors’ boards, including the Think20 (T20), the Rockefeller Foundation, the African Europe Foundation and the African Union Commission on African COVID-19 Response. Professor Binagwaho is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine and the World Academy of Sciences, and a fellow of the African Academy of Sciences. She is an Emerson Elder and has published over 250 peer-reviewed articles and was named among the 100 Most Influential African Women for 2020 and 2021.

Dr Ebere Okereke

Dr Ebere Okereke MB BS DTM&H MSc (PH) FFPH

Dr Ebere Okereke is an experienced public health physician with extensive experience in public health policy, strategy and programme development and implementation. She specialises in global health security, health system strengthening and leadership development. She has won awards for her work promoting women and under-represented groups, mentoring many in public health leadership.

Ebere is currently a Senior Health Adviser at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change and an honorary Senior Public Health Adviser to the Director of Africa CDC. She is a Fellow of the UK Faculty of Public Health and an Associate Fellow at Chatham House. She is a graduate of the University of Nigeria College of Medicine.

Dr Okereke will take up her position at the Africa Public Health Foundation in mid-2023.

Dr. Adelheid Werimo Onyango

Dr Adelheid Onyango is the Director of the Universal Health Coverage/ Healthier Populations Cluster at the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa.

She provides strategic leadership for the WHO Regional Office’s work on creating safe and equitable societies by addressing multidimensional determinants of health, reducing risk factors through multisectoral action, and creating healthy settings using the Health in All Policies (HiAP) approach.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in education from Kenyatta University in Nairobi and a Master of Science and doctorate degrees in nutrition from McGill University in Canada. Her career spans academia, research and public health policy and programming.

Moses Mulumba

Mr. Mulumba is a Lawyer with special interest in Global Health and International Human Rights Law. He is currently the Director General at Afya na Haki (Ahaki) and the outgoing Founding Executive Director at the Center for Health, Human Rights and Development (CEHURD). Mulumba has widely researched, published and taught in the various areas of global health and international human rights. He has been an African Advisor to the HIV and the Law Commission and a former board member to the Uganda National Drug Authority (NDA). He has PhD in Health Sciences from the University of Ghent.