As our leadership team transitions, it’s time to recognize and celebrate important achievements and hard-won triumphs of our 2016-2018 leadership team.
From making RSSH a key Global Fund strategy, to critical operational and staffing updates, to an extremely productive ACM, and the launch of Cluster-Based Learning Networks (CBLN’s), we’ve experienced significant growth, success, and impacts over the last two years.
The Bureau is extremely grateful to our out-going leaders for their unwavering support and dedication in overseeing our constituencies and their tireless efforts to ensure the African voice is heard in Global Fund policies and decisions.
The African constituencies have registered a handful of triumphs on many fronts in the last two years. Through new programs (like Cluster-Based Learning Networks, or CBLNs) and other opportunities to work together, the 2016-2018 leadership team accomplished the following outcomes to name a few:
- The Global Fund’s recognition of Resilient and Sustainable Systems for Health (RSSH) as a key strategy from 2017 to 2022.
- Operational changes and smart staffing to ensure all country representatives have access to well-researched and informed policy analysis and recommendations.
- Successful and productive Annual Consultative Meetings (ACM’s.)
The introduction of Cluster-Based Learning Networks (CBLNs) to:
- Maximize bottom-up approaches
- Increase countries’ engagement and deliberations over Global Fund policies and decisions.
- Strengthen partnerships with the African Union (AU), donors, technical partners, etc.
The Bureau is extremely grateful to our out-going leaders for their unwavering support and dedication in overseeing our constituencies and their tireless efforts to ensure the African voice is heard in Global Fund policies and decisions.
Reflecting on 2016-2018 with Outgoing Board Member Dr. David Kihumuro Apuuli
Dr. David Kihumuro Apuuli, outgoing board member representing Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) says that during his tenure he saw the significant impact the work of the Bureau had on Global Fund policy decisions.
“The first two years of my tenure…revealed how the combined voice of African can have a critical impact on Global Fund decisions,” Dr. Apuuli said. “…the African Voice is now recognized, valued and respected within the Global Fund processes.”
The Q&A below reveals more about Dr. Apuuli’s experience as a board member.
Read the entire interview with Dr. Apuuli here
Looking Ahead: Our Leaders’ Vision for Making the Constituency’s Voice Even Stronger Building on the success of outgoing leaders, our new leadership is well-poised to make the voice of our African constituencies even stronger.
Here’s a glimpse of what some of our incoming leaders hope to achieve during their 2018-2020 tenures on the board.
Major General (Dr.) Gerald Gwinju, outgoing and incoming alternate board member, ESA, 2016-2018 and 2018-2020, is passionate about public health management and draws on his experience as brigadier general presiding over military health services in Zimbabwe.
“By the end of my 2018-2020 tenure, I hope there will be a stronger appreciation of the current challenges developing countries face in terms of health delivery systems,” Major General (Dr.) Gwinji said. “I also hope to motivate member states to increase their support for the general health delivery systems, including community system strengthening.”
Major General (Dr.) Gwinji is the permanent secretary of Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Health and Child Care. A medical doctor by profession, Gwinji specializes in public health and, as a brigadier general presiding over military health services in Zimbabwe, he’s s enjoyed a long career in public health management.
In this interview, Maj. Gen. (Dr.) Gwinji draws on his previous experience as an alternate to continue amplifying the African voice.
Read the entire interview with Major General (Dr.) Gwinju here
Dr. Oly Ilunga Kalenga (MD, PhD), Board Member for WCA, 2018-2020, and the current Minister of Health of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) hopes to improve the living conditions of the Congolese population by rebuilding and restoring the credibility of the country’s health sector.
“As DRC’s Minister of Health, I’ve experienced first-hand the toll Malaria, HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis has taken on the African population in terms of loss of economic and human development opportunities. I also witness everyday the positive impact the Global Fund has had in fighting these three epidemics,” Dr. Kalenga said. “Diseases affect all our communities without making any distinction based on nationality. By working closely together, African Constituencies can raise the African voice and reinforce the African position in the Global Fund.”
As a newcomer to the African Constituency, Dr. Ilunga brings more than 30 years in medicine and public health and health economics to the ACB.
Dr. Ilunga holds a PhD in Public Health and Epidemiology and an MBA with a focus on Health Economics. He worked for more than thirty years as a doctor in Brussels, serving as a specialist in internal medicine, the head of the intensive care unit, and finally the Medical Director and Managing Director/CEO from January 2013 to December 2016.
He studied medicine and earned both his PhD and MBA in Belgium and is the current Minister of Health of DRC.
Here’s his vision for the ACB, in his own words. Read the entire interview with Dr. Ilunga here
Dr. Kebede Worku, Board Member for ESA, 2018-2020 is the current State Minister of Health, Federal Ministry of Health of Ethiopia. He hopes to work with other members to strengthen systems aimed at eradicating all three diseases by 2030.
“I am inspired by excellent work done by the Global Fund around the world. During my term, I will focus on putting the African Constituencies on the right trajectory to end HIV, tuberculosis and malaria as public health threats by 2030,” Dr. Worku said. “This will entail enhancing health and community systems and developing flexible and innovative programs specific to HIV, tuberculosis and malaria in the African Constituencies. This also requires systematic engagement with local governments and communities and smart partnership with international donors and private philanthropies.”
Dr. Worku earned his medical degree from Addis Ababa University. In addition to serving as a Board Member for ESA for the 2018-2020 term, Dr. Worku is the Alternate Chair of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB & Malaria Country Coordinating Mechanism – Ethiopia. He also represents the Ministry of Health in Ethiopia as a Signatory of Malaria, TB & HSS grants.
Dr. Worku has served as general practitioner; the Head of West Hararghe Zone Health Office, Oromia Regional State; and he is the current State Minister of Health with the Federal Ministry of Health in Ethiopia.
Here’s his vision for the ACB, in his own words. Read the entire interview with Dr. Worku here
Please join us in welcoming our new leadership team and wishing them a successful tenure. Together, we will build on the successes of our outgoing leaders to make the African Constituency Bureau stronger and even more influential.
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