Amref Health Africa Global CEO and Co-Chair of UHC 2030 steering committee, Dr. Githinji Gitahi has been appointed as a member of the Governing Board of the Africa Centre’s for Disease Control and prevention (Africa CDC).
The Africa CDC supports all African countries to improve surveillance, emergency response, and prevention of infectious diseases. This includes addressing outbreaks, man-made and natural disasters and public health events of regional and international concern. It further seeks to build the capacity to reduce disease burden on the continent.
“I would like to extend my gratitude to the African Union and specifically to H.E Mrs Elfadil for this appointment. I am honored to be nominated for this position that is geared towards strengthening and transforming the health in Africa. I look forward to sharing my expertise and skills as we work towards achieving Universal Health Coverage and achieving health security in Africa,” said Dr. Gitahi.
The Africa CDC is also a specialized technical institution of the African Union that serves as a platform for Member States to share knowledge, exchange lessons learnt and build capacity.
This appointment comes after his nomination as the co-chair of the UHC2030 Steering Committee in December 2017. UHC2030 is a World Bank and World Health Organization (WHO) forum for the achievement of universal health coverage (UHC) by 2030 and has membership across countries, private sector, and civil society organizations.
Amref Health Africa, headquartered in Kenya, is the largest Africa based international non-governmental organisation (NGO) currently running programs in over 35 countries in Africa with lessons learnt over 60 years of engagement with governments, communities, and partners to increase sustainable health access in Africa. Amref Health Africa also incorporates programme development, fundraising, partnership, advocacy, monitoring and evaluation, and has offices in Europe and North America as well as subsidiaries; Amref Flying Doctors, Amref Enterprises and the Amref International University.
Gitahi has previously served as International VP and Regional Director, Africa, of Smile Train and International Regional Director, Africa. He worked at Nation Media Group as Managing Director, Monitor Publications Ltd (an NMG subsidiary in Uganda) and General Manager (Marketing and Circulation).
He has held various senior marketing positions in the past. Gitahi is also the International Co-Chair for UHC2030, a World Bank and WHO initiative for Universal Health Coverage. He holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration (Marketing option) from USIU and a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery from the University of Nairobi.
