Dr. Natalia Kanem is United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency. Dr. Kanem joined the United Nations in 2014 as UNFPA Representative in the United Republic of Tanzania, and served as Deputy Executive Director in charge of programmes from 2016 until her appointment as Executive Director in 2017. Previously, she served as founding president of ELMA Philanthropies, Inc., senior associate of the Lloyd Best Institute of the West Indies, and as Ford Foundation Deputy Vice-President for peace and social justice programmes in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America and North America. Dr. Kanem holds a medical degree from Columbia University in New York, a master’s degree in Public Health, with specializations in epidemiology and preventive medicine, from the University of Washington in Seattle and a bachelor’s degree in history and science from Harvard College.

Anuradha Gupta is Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Since joining Gavi in 2015, Anuradha has led efforts to put equity and gender at the centre of Gavi’s programmatic planning and to tailor support to countries within Gavi’s strategy. She has also driven efforts to create a new model of country-level Alliance support, through the establishment of the partners’ engagement framework (PEF). At the same time, Anuradha has helped to improve country ownership and leadership of Gavi-supported programmes while enhancing accountability for results. In 2019, Gavi received the prestigious Lasker~Bloomberg Public Service Award for providing sustained access to childhood vaccines in the world’s poorest countries, saving millions of lives and highlighting the power of immunisation to prevent diseases. Prior to Gavi, Anuradha served as Mission Director of the National Health Mission of India, where she ran the largest – and possibly most complex – public health programme in the world with an annual budget of US$ 3.5 billion. A passionate and influential advocate of women, young girls and children, Anuradha played a leading role in India’s efforts to eradicate polio transmission, reduce maternal and child mortality and revitalise primary health care. Anuradha has contributed towards a number of important global health initiatives. She served as a member of the Steering Committee for Child Survival Call to Action, co-chaired the Stakeholder Group for the 2012 London Summit on Family Planning and was a member of the Family Planning 2020 (FP2020) Reference Group. Anuradha served as Co-Chair of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH) and is currently a member of the PMNCH Board. She also played a role in shaping the Global Financing Facility (GFF) and is a member of the GFF Investors Group. From 2015-2018, Anuradha served on the Merck for Mothers Advisory Board. Anuradha holds an MBA from the University of Wollongong in Australia and received executive education from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, Stanford Graduate School of Business and Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. In 2015, she was named one of “300 Women Leaders in Global Health” by the Global Health Centre of the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies.

Ndifanji is a global health advocate from Malawi and a Malaria No More UK youth ambassador. She is a member of the Commonwealth Youth Health Network and was one of the key speakers at the high level Malaria Summit during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in London, 2018.  Ndifanji was part of the African Union Common Panel ‘Strengthening Youth Leadership and Engagement in the Fight Against Malaria in Africa’ a round table discussion organized by the AU Commission. Ndifanji has taken up various roles ranging from lecturing in public health at the University of Malawi, research with the Malaria Epidemiology group at the Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Program, to being appointed Deputy Director Health Technical Support Services at the Ministry of Health Malawi. Currently she is a Program Manager on a PEPFAR Funded project whose goal is to Achieve HIV Epidemic Control through Scaling up Quality Testing, Care and Treatment.

Kene Esom is a Policy Specialist with the United Nations Development Programme. His work focuses on enabling legal and policy environment for effective rights-based responses to health, and the intersection of law, human rights and gender. Prior to joining UNDP, Kene worked on various human rights and development issues including asylum and forced migration, sexual and gender-based violence and sexual orientation and gender identity. He is a Barrister-at-Law and holds a Master of Law [LL.M] in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa from the University of Pretoria and a certificate in Global Health Delivery from Harvard University.

Bogolo J. Kenewendo is an African Economist, Managing Director of Kenewendo Advisory and the former Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry in Botswana. She is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Center for Global Development. Kenewendo is a member of the United Nations Secretary-General (UN SG) António  Guterres’ High-Level Panel on digital cooperation and group on Financing for Development, a member of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Future Council for Global Public Goods in the Fourth Industrial Revolution and also a WEF Young Global Leader. She is also the co-founder and chairperson of Molaya Kgosi Trust and sits on several corporate boards. She’s an advocate for the empowerment and protection of children and women.

Edwin Macharia is the Global Managing Partner of Dalberg Advisors, the leading global strategic advisory firm that works collaboratively with public, private and philanthropic organisations to enable all people, everywhere, to reach their fullest potential. In this role, Edwin sets the strategic direction of the firm and oversees activities across 30+ offices worldwide. At Dalberg, Edwin supports clients on a range of issues including strategy, operational efficiency, and program implementation. Edwin joined Dalberg from the Clinton Foundation, where he held multiple roles focused on rural communities. Before that he was at McKinsey & Company, where he served clients in the financial services and pharmaceutical sectors. Edwin is a global board member of The Nature Conservancy and Nabo Capital. He also just completed his term on Amref University Governing Council.

Justin Apsey is the Vice President - Africa Transformation at Unilever. He joined Unilever in Customer Development via the Management Trainee program in January 2000. Over the years he occupied various roles across the business units in Customer Development and Marketing, including a 3 year expatriation to Australia. In early 2012, Apsey took up the role as Vice President of Homecare on the Unilever South Africa Board.  In February 2016, Justin moved to Nairobi, Kenya as Managing Director for East Africa and the Emerging Markets, responsible for transforming the cluster in service of driving Africa’s accelerated growth agenda. While in East Africa, Justin founded and led some of the region’ milestone strategic partnership initiatives driven through employee purpose in action under the Bright Future Fund program, promoting circular plastic economy, youth skills empowerment, women entrepreneurship and community livelihoods. In January 2021, after completing a four-year tenure as Managing Director, Justin started his current role as Vice President - Africa Transformation at Unilever, as part of the Executive Leadership Team and moved to South Africa where he is currently based. Prior to joining Unilever Justin worked at Ogilvy in Client Service and Strategy. Ogilvy is one of Unilever’s key advertising agencies across various brands and is part of the WPP group.  Justin Holds a Bachelor of Business Science degree, with honours in Marketing from the University of Cape Town. He is married with three children. He is very passionate about Africa and seeing it succeed. His mantra is to lead in creating a brighter future for all. When not working, Justin enjoys the outdoors, running and staying healthy.

Kojo Boakye is Facebook’s Director of Public Policy for Africa. He’s an ICT for Development practitioner with 17+ years’ experience working with governments, fixed-line and mobile operators, development partners, online service providers, content developers, entrepreneurs, and civil society organisations. Prior to joining Facebook, he was the Deputy Executive Director of the World Wide Web Foundation’s Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI), and he previously headed Research and Consultancy at the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO).  Before being asked to lead Facebook’s policy work in SSA Kojo’s work focused on broadband affordability, connectivity and access, with a special focus on the socio-economic impact of broadband services. Today, his work involves the full gamut of policy matters that impact the digital economy, including data privacy, content policy, taxation, cybersecurity, election integrity, online safety, digital literacy, digital payments, and entrepreneurship. Kojo continues to be passionate about creating opportunities for Africa and Africans. Most recently, he joined the board for Junior Achievement Africa. In addition to an MSc in Development Studies, Kojo holds a BA in African History and Development Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London.

Allen is the Chief Technical Officer at TradeMark East Africa. In this role she is responsible for the technical delivery of TMEA’s entire project portfolio in infrastructure, trade environment, and business competitiveness spanning 12 countries. Allen also oversees the Climate Change and Gender portfolios and leads collaboration with key stakeholders and development partners, including the Partner States, FCDO, USAID, the World Bank and the African Development Bank. Prior to this, Allen has been a consultant for the African Export Import Bank supporting the implementation of the Intra Africa Trade Initiative and has served as past CEO of AVID Development, a consulting firm working on key issues of trade, development and governance in Africa. She is also a co- Founder of the Girls for Girls Global Mentoring Initiative now in 23 countries. Allen holds a Master’s in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School (Edward Mason Fellow, 2017) and a Masters in International Business Law from the University of Manchester, UK (1998).

Eyong Ebai is Zone General Manager for Sub-Saharan Africa, responsible for GE Healthcare’s operations in 22 markets across West Central, South and East Africa. Eyong also serves as an Executive Director on the Board of GE International Operations (Nigeria) Ltd. Eyong first joined GE Healthcare in 2016 as General Manager West & Central Africa before his appointment as Executive General Manager for West, Central and French Sub-Saharan Africa in 2018.  Prior to GE, Eyong held leadership roles in the pharmaceutical, medical device, consumable, and equipment industries. He began his career in the graduate development program at Janssen, part of the Johnson & Johnson group of companies, and subsequently took on key commercial roles across several business units. Eyong then moved to Smith+Nephew, a leading medical equipment manufacturing company. After 15 years working in Europe, Eyong decided to focus his gained experience on the African continent, joining Johnson & Johnson Medical as the Market Development Manager for Anglophone West Africa, responsible for building the J&J Medical Surgical & Orthopaedic business across the region.  Eyong earned a bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Science from the University or York and post-graduate qualifications in Health Economics & Market Access from the University of Marseille. In his spare time, Eyong enjoys watching the Tottenham Hotspurs, running, and travelling.

Dr Hauwa Mohammed has over 20 years’ experience working in Maternal Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) services. She has worked as a clinician and consultant obstetrician and gynecologist in Nigeria. She has been working as a public health physician for over 10 years on several MNCH programmes in Africa.  Dr Mohammed has been involved in operations research in MNCH projects and has participated in the development of training curriculum for Antenatal Care, Postnatal Care and Emergency Obstetrics and Newborn Care. She is involved in pre- and in-service education of midwives and doctors organizing and executing Life Saving Skills/Emergency Obstetrics and Newborn Care (LSS/EmONC), Antenatal and Postnatal Care and Quality of Care (QI) improvement trainings. Dr Mohammed currently works as a Senior Technical Officer for Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in Nigeria she is dedicated to the improvement of MNCH in Africa.

Dr. Beatrice Murage is passionate about access to quality healthcare. She is an experienced leader in systems strengthening, healthcare management, digital innovation and exploration ventures. She has successfully built teams and led strategy, policy formulation and project implementation in emerging and established markets. Dr. Murage is currently Senior Scientist at Philips Research and Innovation, India & Africa. She is based within Philips Group Innovation & Strategy and works closely with Philips teams in International Markets, Philips Foundation and Group Sustainability. Dr. Murage serves in an advisory capacity to various industry organizations and coalitions working in entrepreneurship and innovation. They include Digital Connected Care Coalition (DCCC), Transform Health and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). Dr. Murage is a medical doctor and she holds an International MBA and Master in Business Analytics & Big Data from IE Business School, Spain.

Tayo Erogbogbo has two decades of combined private sector and international development experience, 10 years of which was spent in the pharmaceutical industry in multiple roles across community relations, government affairs, marketing and sales. As the Director of Advocacy for MSD for Mothers, Tayo is responsible for national and global strategic partnerships and programs to bring about policies and practice changes to improve maternal health care and strengthen health systems, particularly where private sector approaches can be leveraged for greater impact. Prior to MSD for Mothers, Tayo led the establishment of an adolescents and youth constituency at The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH) to advocate for better sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health policies and services at global, regional, and national levels. Additionally, he contributed to the development of the Global Strategy for Women's, Children's and Adolescents' Health 2016 -2030. Previously, in collaboration with multisectoral partners in Nigeria, he contributed to the passage of the National Health Bill, the development of the National Gender Policy Guidelines and the passage of Violence Against Person's Prohibition in support of gender equality. Tayo also spearheaded Abbott's HIV patient relations function within Europe, developing services to support people living with HIV by partnering with community organizations. He advocated for antiretroviral drug access across Africa and developed a health care professional (HCP) train-the-trainer program that has educated over 3,000 HCPs. Tayo earned a BSc in Management Sciences from Loughborough University, and MSc Information Technology for Management from Coventry University.

Seth Akumani has been combining business, technology, and user insights to build and champion impactful solutions over the past decade.  At UNDP, he is responsible for scouting grassroots solutions, building partnerships, and shining light on emerging issues, trends, and innovative applications of disruptive technologies such as AI and blockchain. Prior to his current role, Seth was Director of Business Development and Marketing at GenKey, a biometric technology company, where he was involved in delivering identification solutions for health insurance schemes, social protection programs, and other pro-poor initiatives. Before that, Seth co-founded and led ClaimSync, a health-tech start-up that developed digital health solutions for low-resource settings.  Seth has spent over eight years assessing the viability of hospital management, health insurance, and claims processing solutions in Africa. He is passionate about digital health and has spoken at several venues, including the African Healthcare Summit and the Economist Healthcare in Africa Conference.

Caroline is an experienced leader in the fields of global health, innovation, technology, and international development. She has extensive experience in driving complex program deployments in multiple countries, initiating learning opportunities to better inform policy, testing technologies and innovations, and developing new business opportunities through public-private partnerships in emerging markets. She has over 20 years’ experience running and growing entrepreneurial ventures in the nonprofit and commercial space, with a track record of shifting opinions, and applying innovative approaches for profit, social impact, and sustainability. Caroline is a Board Member of White Ribbon Alliance Kenya Chapter and D-Tree International.

Dr. Eva Njenga, MBS, is a well-respected and world-renowned endocrinologist with a vast experience and knowledge in tropical medicine, Social Medicine and Medical Anthropology. She holds a MMed from the University of Nairobi, has a certificate in Endocrinology from the University of New Castle Upon Tyne-UK and is a Social Medicine and Medical Anthropology Fellow at Harvard University. She has been practicing medicine for over 30 years and has worked in several hospitals in the country offering specialized care in diabetes and endocrine conditions management. She has also been a lecturer at the University of Nairobi’s School of Medicine for more than 10 years and continues to share her expertise with post-graduate students in various private university hospitals in the country. She Co- Chairs the NCD Intersectoral Coordinating Committee, sits on the advisory Board of Diabetes Africa, is an advisor of the African Research Universities Alliance, and is a member of the Centre of Excellence in Non-Communicable Diseases, the Kenya Diabetes Study Group, Kenya Medical Association Kenya Association of Physicians among others. She is also the overall team leader of the Ministry of Health Technical Team for Mitigation of COVID19 Pandemic and strengthening of Health Systems for UHC in the 47 Counties in Kenya. She has been very instrumental in matters healthcare in the country, so much so that her exemplary work and commitment has seen her gain recognition and conferred State Honours by HE President Uhuru Kenyatta for her distinguished and outstanding services to the nation and was bestowed upon the title, Moran of the Order of the Burning Spear (MBS). Dr. Njenga cares very much about people’s health and is a passionate NCDs champion.

Ms Njide Ndili is the Country Director for PharmAccess Foundation, an International NGO dedicated to facilitating affordable access to quality health care in Africa by stimulating investments in the healthcare industry through partnerships with the private sector and government institutions. She directs activities that support demand-side financing, supply-side quality improvement using SafeCare© Methodology, and activities to improve access to financing for healthcare small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through the Medical Credit Fund. Ms Ndili’s experience in the healthcare industry spans decades in the United States and Nigeria, and she has worked as a consultant to several healthcare organisations. She has an MSc in Health Economics, Policy, and Management from London School of Economics, an AMP from INSEAD Business School, MBA from the University of Houston, Post Graduate Diploma in Finance, and B.Sc. in Computer Science from the University of Nigeria. Ms Ndili is currently serving as a Commissioner for the Governing Health Futures 2030 Commission.

Mr Christian Franz is supporting the Secretariat of the Governing Health Futures 2030 Commission as Policy and Research Consultant. He is the Managing Director of the data and policy analysis firm CPC Analytics, which is based in Berlin and Pune. In global health, he has worked and published on the commercial determinants of health, the role of banking for health, and on Germany’s role in global health. Currently, he is also facilitating the Community of Practice on ‘NCDs and commercial determinants of health’ for the WHO GCM/NCD. Over the past years, Mr Franz has been affiliated with the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin), where he analysed the impact of regional disparities on election outcomes and worked on income inequality in Germany. He has a Bachelor’s degree in business administration and economic analysis from Ludwig Maximillian University in Munich and a Master’s degree in public policy from Hertie School of Governance Berlin.

Ms Louise Holly is supporting the Secretariat of the Governing Health Futures 2030 Commission as Policy and Research Consultant. Since 2018, Ms Holly has worked as an independent consultant supporting a range of international organisations with policy analysis, report writing, qualitative evaluations and advocacy strategy development on issues such as digital health, newborn and child health, HIV, health system strengthening, and children’s rights. In previous roles with RESULTS, Save the Children and UNICEF, Ms Holly acquired over 15 years’ experience of working with civil society, policymakers and intergovernmental organisations around the world to reduce inequalities in access to healthcare, and to promote children’s and women’s rights. She has a BA Hons in Philosophy from King’s College London and an MSc in History and International Relations from the London School of Economics.

Enow Awah Georges Stevens, MD is a clinician specialising in sexual and reproductive health, and maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health in emergency and post-conflict environments. In addition to his clinical experience, Dr Enow is a leader in advocating for meaningful youth engagement and the role of young people in sustainable development and decision making. Dr Enow is a board member with various international organisations such as CHOICE for Youth and Sexuality, Youths Combating NTDs, and Y+ Global representing West and Central Africa. He is an Associate Royal Commonwealth Fellow, African Healthcare Innovator Awardee, YALI Fellow, Obama Fellow, WHO Scholar, African Presidential Leadership Fellow, and Women Deliver Young Leader. Dr Enow studied at the University of Yaoundé; The University of Bamenda; Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration; Le Centre Africain d’Etudes Supérieures en Gestion; and Royal Tropical Institute (KIT).

Dr Frederik Kristensen, MD has been the Deputy CEO of CEPI since January 2017, and took on a dual role as Director for People, Planning and Policy from January 2019. Before joining CEPI he was a senior advisor on innovation at the World Health Organization in Geneva, in the Family, Women’s and Children’s Health Cluster. In that role he focused on projects to promote access to life-saving commodities, supporting projects in 20 African and three Asian countries in collaboration with UNICEF and UNFPA and over 100 implementing partners. He also worked on developing the innovation agenda at WHO and some of its public-private partnerships in the area of Women’s and Childrens’ health. Dr. Kristensen is a healthcare executive with previous experience from the Norwegian Development Agency, hospital management and the pharmaceutical industry. He has started and run successful companies in the areas of health economics and decision support. At the start of his career he worked as a general practitioner in rural settings. He is an MD from the Universities of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK, and Oslo, Norway and with a MPH/MBA degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

Dr Ahmed Ogwell currently serves as the Deputy Director at the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) – a specialised agency of the African Union (AU). In this capacity, he works with AU Member States and other partners, leading a team of experts in securing Africa’s health through effective preparedness, early detection and rapid response to disease outbreaks and public health emergencies on the continent of Africa. Dr Ahmed Ogwell has over 25 years of experience in public health as a social and developmental agenda at national, regional, and global levels. He has ably held senior positions in national government, the United Nations (UN) system, non-governmental organisations, and the AU. Dr Ahmed Ogwell previously worked as an advisor to the World Health Organization Director General and worked at the World Health Organisation Regional office for Africa. Dr Ahmed Ogwell is an alumnus of the University of Nairobi School of Public Health and the Centre for International Health at the University of Bergen in Norway. He is married with children.

A medical doctor and infectious disease epidemiologist, Dr Seth Berkley joined Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance as its CEO in August 2011, spearheading its mission to protect the world’s poorest children by improving access to new and underused vaccines. In its 20 years of existence, Gavi has reached more than 820 million children in the 73 poorest countries. In 2015, Dr Berkley led Gavi to its second replenishment, raising US$ 7.5 billion in donor commitments. In June 2020, Dr Berkley led Gavi to its third successful replenishment, raising US$ 8.8 billion and exceeding the ask of at least US$ 7.4 billion in the presence of 42 heads of state. The ambitious goals for the 2021–2025 strategic period are to reach 300 million more children, preventing an additional 7–8 million deaths and contributing to a further US$ 80–100 billion in economic benefits. Dr Berkley is co-leading the Vaccines Pillar of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, working to develop and distribute a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine globally. In July 2020, Fortune honoured him with a leadership award at Brainstorm Health, calling Gavi “arguably the most productive multilateral health collaboration in history.”  Under Dr Berkley’s leadership, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance received the 2019 Lasker~Bloomberg Public Service Award for providing sustained access to childhood vaccines in the world’s poorest countries, as well as the Princess of Asturias Award for International Cooperation 2020. Prior to Gavi, in 1996, Dr Berkley founded the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), the first vaccine product development public-private sector partnership, where he served as President and CEO for 15 years.  Under his leadership, IAVI created a virtual vaccine product development effort involving scientists from low-income countries, industry and academia – developing and testing HIV vaccines around the world. He also oversaw a global advocacy programme that ensured HIV vaccines received prominent attention in the media and in forums such as the G8, the European Union and the United Nations. Previously, Dr Berkley served as an officer of the Health Sciences Division at The Rockefeller Foundation.  He has worked for the Center for Infectious Diseases of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); the Massachusetts Department of Public Health; and the Carter Center, where he was assigned as an epidemiologist at the Ministry of Health in Uganda. Dr Berkley played a key role in Uganda’s first national HIV sero-survey and helped develop its national AIDS Control Program. He has been featured on the cover of Newsweek magazine; recognised by TIME magazine as one of “The TIME 100 – The World’s Most Influential People”; and named by WIRED magazine as among “The WIRED 25 – a salute to dreamers, inventors, mavericks, leaders.” His TED talks have been viewed by more than 2.3 million people, and he has published over 250 articles and opinion pieces. He has consulted or worked in more than 50 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Dr Berkley sits on a number of international steering committees and corporate and not-for-profit boards, including those of Gilead Sciences and the New York Academy of Sciences, and is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Geneva’s Institute  of Global Health in the Faculty of Medicine. Dr Berkley received his undergraduate and medical degrees from Brown University and trained in internal medicine at Harvard University. In 2013, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Nelson Mandela University in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, for services to global public health and advancing the right to health care for all.

Fidel is a final year student of BSc Electrical and Electronics Engineering in Kenyatta University. Fidel is the lead inventor of the Tibavent ventilator, the first ever African designed and developed ventilator. He is the founder and CEO of AFECS LTD, a technology company. Fidel is also an IEEE Photonics Society volunteer. He is the chairperson of IEEE Kenyatta University Students’ Branch and the student representative at IEEE Kenya Section. He is the team leader of the KUCUBE nano nanosatellite project (a satellite that will be used in the prediction and mitigation of agricultural disasters). Fidel is also the team leader of Electrical team for the digital learning device team (team by ministry of ICT Kenya, to develop tablets for learning in primary schools). Fidel was awarded the 2020 United Nations person of the year- principal innovator award and the UBORA 2020 project of the year Fidel has been awarded the Head of State Commendation by HE the president of Kenya in 12th December 2020. Fidel was born in 30/06/1997 in Kabarnet town, Baringo district. He went to AIC visa Oshwal primary school where he excelled and went to Nakuru High School. In his form 3, he transferred to Friends school Kaimosi boys’ high school where he excelled and joined Kenyatta University for his undergraduate studies. Fidel has a passion on using technology to transform society and has applied his knowledge to come up with solutions for problems in the society. Fidel is also topping his class with a GPA of 76.

MaqC provides strategic and technical direction, team leadership, and membership development in the community of practice that is fostering the advancement of learning in human-centered design (HCD) and adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH). He builds upon over two decades of experience working with various stakeholders including philanthropy, media, the UN, governments, and young people in various countries to design and implement high impact adolescent health and youth programs in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

Susanne took on the role as Global Head of Access to Medicines early in 2018 and is leading Takeda’s strategy to enhance access to innovative medicines for patients in underserved communities for complex and rare diseases, while strengthening health systems by catalysing partnerships to drive long-term impact. Prior to this role, Susanne was Head of Patient Access and Services for Takeda’s Europe and Canada business and successfully developed and implemented patient engagement programs. As a physician, Susanne has broad knowledge and experience gained over 15 years in the areas of public health and access. This includes roles at the World Economic Forum where Susanne led the business health and healthcare community as well as in consulting on access in emerging markets.

Anastacia Tomson is a medical doctor, author, and activist in the field of LGBTQIA rights. A queer-identified woman herself, Anastacia uses her lived experience and professional training to inform her work in educating and spreading awareness around SOGIE minorities. Her activism work sees her engaging with the general public, with parent- or ally groups, with cultural communities, with NGOs and governmental agencies, and with LGBTQIA populations directly. She advocates for improving access competent care for queer-identified people in South Africa. She regularly works with such varied groups as the University of Pretoria’s Centre for Human Rights, the UNDP, the South African Judicial Education Institute, as well as regularly lecturing undergraduate medical students at UCT on issues of gender, and SOGIE minorities. Working together with compounding pharmacists, Anastacia was instrumental in driving the process for making injectible estradiol valerate, the international gold-standard for feminsing gender affirming hormone therapy for trans patients, available in South Africa. Anastacia’s globally-available 2016 memoir, Always Anastacia, offers a candid, intimate window into her experiences, with the hope of cultivating understanding, compassion and empathy towards diverse identities. Among her accolades, she has been recognised as a Mandela Washington Fellow, as one of the Mail & Guardian’s 200 Young South Africans, and as one of The Young Independents’ Mzansi 100. She has also been published in the peer-reviewed, open-access South African Journal of Bioethics and Law, on the subject of medical ethics in gender-affirming care. Experienced both in public-sector healthcare and in clinical trials, Anastacia now offers primary care services in the private sector in her home town of Cape Town, South Africa. When she’s not at work, she can often be found cooking up a vegan storm in her kitchen, or out running on a scenic trail.

Dr. Esther is Smile Train’s Vice President and Regional Director for Africa, a position she has served for 5+ years. During her tenure, the programs have grown in scale, spanning 40 countries with 254+ partner hospitals and reaching over 128,000 patients; increasing access to comprehensive cleft care while improving safety and quality. Dr. Esther spearheaded the formation of the Africa Medical Advisory Council, formed for the first time in 2019. Through her leadership, Smile Train Africa is now accredited as an International Training Centre for American Heart Association’s BLS and PALS. Responsible for the strategic direction of Smile Train in Africa, Dr. Esther oversees the growth and stewardship of Smile Train’s partnerships and programs across all of Africa. She represents Smile Train on the Civil Society Engagement Mechanism (CSEM) Advisory Group for UHC2030 and has served in Technical Working Groups developing National Surgical, Obstetric and Anesthesia (NSOAP) plans in Kenya and SADC region. As a passionate global health advocate, she has spoken at several major advocacy events and conferences including UNGA73 side event and the Civil Society Town Hall with WHO DG, Dr. Tedros in May 2020. She was awarded Business Daily’s Top40Under40 women in 2016 and she serves on the board of her Rotary Club. Dr. Esther is passionate about children and their health, an important pillar in her commitment to Smile Train. 

Renée Ngamau is a champion for women and a strong believer in empowerment and inclusivity of all stakeholders, in decisions that affect their lives. She is a Business Leadership Coach at ReneeSense, a coaching and training institute that specialises in helping entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses. She is the convenor of SuperCircles for Women in Business. Renée is also an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya. A holder of a Masters in Commercial and Banking Law degree from the University of London, she has practiced commercial banking and business law in Kenya and in the UK.  Renée is a media personality and was the host of Capital in the Morning with Renée and Maqbul, a critically acclaimed weekday morning drive show on the highly celebrated Capital FM radio station. She is an experienced life coach, NLP Master Practitioner and Trainer, and Hypnotherapist with over 9years’ experience in supporting leaders to confidently start and grow successful businesses. Her goal is to train and support one million successful confident Women entrepreneurs on the continent and beyond. She has been Rewarded by the Graca Machel Trust for her work advancing women in Africa and is one of seven African Women in Media Champions. She currently serves as the Chairperson of Amnesty International Kenya.

Mah-Séré Keita is a global health professional with 17+ years of research, patient care, project development and management experience. Over the course of her career, she has worked primarily on improving disease detection and response in low-resource settings. Keita is currently the Director of Programs at the African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM), and has previously held leadership positions at the Catholic Relief Services -Mali, American Society for Microbiology (ASM), and Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH). She holds a Master’s in Public Health (MPH) with a focus on infectious disease epidemiology and a Certificate in Health Finance and Management from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in pre-medicine biology from Boston College.

Hon Marie Rose Nguini-Effa is a Member of National Assembly of Cameroon Member of the Pan African Parliament and Member of the Cameroon-France Friendship Group. She is the Chair the National Commission for the fight against HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis, Vice-Chair of the Social, Cultural and Familial Affairs Committee and currently serves as an Advisory Council Member of the Global Parliamentary Alliance (GPA). Hon. Nguini-Effa is an economist and she is globally recognized as a parliamentary champion. She continues to lead efforts that advance SRHR, UHC harmonization of medical legislation across Africa

Richard Dzikunu the facilitator for the Young Experts: Tech 4 Health initiative, a platform for young people to shape and guide work towards achieving UHC by leveraging frontier and digital technology. In 2018, Richard received the first-ever Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Action Campaign Award from the UN during the Global Festival of Action for Sustainable Development in Bonn, Germany. The award recognized Richard's work in empowering marginalized groups (women, girls, young people, and persons with disabilities) to be involved in the SDGs dialogue in Ghana and for influencing the Ghana Adolescent Health Policy and Strategy to meet the demographic needs of young people

Tito Ovia is the co-Founder of Helium Health, Africa’s largest health-tech provider, which builds the technology and data infrastructure to make it easier for anyone, regardless of their social class or economic status, to access quality healthcare on the continent. Tito’s childhood dream was to provide world-class care to as many people as she could across Africa. Today, in her role as Head of Public Sector Growth at Helium Health, she is fostering public-private partnerships that accelerate Africa’s transition to a technology and data-driven healthcare system. Her work in African healthcare has helped make her a Forbes 30 Under 30 recipient and a winner of the Future Africa Award for Disruption. When Tito is not working on fixing healthcare in Africa, she is occupied with Feminist Coalition, the women's rights advocacy group she helped found that is promoting equality for women in the Nigerian society, with a core focus on education, financial freedom and representation in public Office. She has a degree in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Manchester.

Lizz Ntonjira is currently the Global Director of Communications at Amref Health Africa, the largest health development organization in Africa. In her role, she leads and mentors a capable communications team responsible for program communications, institutional messaging and offers strategic guidance for Africa, Europe and North America communication teams. She is also a youth advocate and the author of the book #YOUTHCAN, a collection of powerful, inspiring and challenging stories from youth breaking barriers across 22 African countries. For her work across various sectors, she has received numerous awards including being listed as one of the 100 Most Influential Young Africans.  Lizz is committed to changing the African narrative by showcasing compelling stories that reflect Africa’s improving development agenda. Lizz holds a bachelor’s degree in law from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa, a post graduate Professional Diploma in Public Relations from the Chartered Institute of Public Relations in the UK, and a Master’s degree in Public Policy and Management from Strathmore Business School. She is also a Public Policy Fellow from Virginia Commonwealth University in the US, and a recipient of former US President Barack Obama’s Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders (2015).

Rachel Onamusi is the founder of VN Sync, a full-service digital agency with expertise in all aspects of digital media, with special focus on strategy development, implementation and facilitation. Her projects have ranged from marketing consulting, market research, corporate & personal brand management, product & campaign launch, political campaign media and PR, publicity strategy development and management, to technology training and certification platforms’ management. An accomplished digital media strategist and growth facilitator for major corporate global brands, Ms. Onamusi’s extensive experience has a global reach and covers both the private and public sectors. Having served clients in USA, Europe and Africa, Rachel’s passion remains supporting and driving efforts that create a lasting impact in education, health, and sustainable development. Ms. Onamusi is a graduate in Psychology from Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Nigeria.

Jackie is a Nigerian science journalist and is responsible for coordinating correspondents and coverage including the Africa Science Focus podcast from Sub-Saharan Africa for SciDev.Net. She is English-speaking and won the IDRC Science Journalism Internship award in 2014. Jackie coordinates the affairs of the Nigerian Association of Science Journalists (NASJ). As a journalist, her works have been published in various parts of the world including Africa, South Africa and the UK. She has a profound interest in science journalism and science communication, she dedicates her time to speak to universities and their vice-chancellors in Nigeria on the importance of science communication. She also moderates conference sessions, one of which is moderating at the EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF2020) on ‘Agriculture on the front line, what the world can learn from African Scientists’

My name is Ian Wafula, a Journalist by profession currently working for BBC Africa where I host and report for The Breakdown a COVID9 special programme. I began my journey into the profession in 2012 when I joined Shine FM; Daystar University’s community radio station. I later joined KTN for my internship in August 2013 and was employed as a Reporter in 6 months. I began working under the investigations desk where I produced exposes like ‘Terror Foretold’ that exposed laxity amongst the security personnel in Garissa County leading a terror attack that left 147 people dead. The entire security team was indicted following the report. I then joined K24 in 2015 where I hosted the breakfast show Alfajiri, a news, current affairs and lifestyle show. I went on to cover Kenya’s 2017 general elections and the presidential re-run in the same year under the ‘The Daily Brief’ a daytime live news and current affairs show. I joined the BBC in 2018; I was assigned to host, produce and report for Fact Finder a media literacy and fact checking show. My experience at Fact Finder led me to find my purpose in February 2020 when started Heal The Web an initiative that aims at raising awareness on internet vices while promoting better use.

Dr. Theresa Ifeoma Amobi has a PhD in Health Communication, Master of Science degree in Mass Communication, Master’s degree in Public Administration, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Communication. She is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Mass Communication, University of Lagos, Nigeria, where she teaches Multimedia and Online Journalism, Broadcasting and Film, International Communication, Social Science Research and Theories of Communication. She also teaches Health Communication at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos. Dr. Amobi also teaches Consumer Behaviour and Social Science Research at the Pan Atlantic University, Lagos, Nigeria, where she is an adjunct Lecturer. Her research interests include Health Mis/Disinformation and Conspiracy theories, Media and Gender, Nollywood Film Industry, International Communication, among others. She is a member of the Advisory Board of Africa Check, Fullfact and Chequeado; an Independent Researcher for Africa Check and other international agencies; and a member of the African Movies Academy Awards AMAA College of Screeners since 2014.

Ethel Makila is the Associate Director for Advocacy Policy and Communications at IAVI. She is responsible for designing and implementing innovative political, policy and science advocacy initiatives aimed at enhancing the environment for global health research and development; and leading communications initiatives related to IAVI’s Africa region programs. A seasoned science and development communication expert, she has over 10 years’ experience in stakeholder engagement for both profit and non-profit agencies in the development, agricultural research, and global health field. She holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Nairobi, is currently pursuing a Master of Public Policy and Management at the Strathmore University in Kenya.

Thabani Maphosa is Gavi’s Managing Director of Country Programmes, overseeing Gavi’s operations in 73 countries. The Country Programmes Department’s raison d'être is to harness the power of the Vaccine Alliance for countries to save the maximum number of lives through immunization. This is achieved through maximizing financial investments (donor and domestic), bringing the best partners to the table and driving innovative solutions. The Country Programmes Department manages Gavi’s relationships with governments and provides grant management oversight for all in-country resources. Prior to joining Gavi, Thabani held several leadership roles in World Vision International for over 16 years. Thabani is a seasoned humanitarian who has led disaster preparedness and response efforts globally. He is also recognised for introducing the use of technology in the last mile and not least for scaling up cash transfers in stable and fragile contexts. With a Master of Philosophy degree in Science, Thabani has worked in academia as a lecturer in physiology and microbiology.

Dr. Ayoade Olatunbosun-Alakija is the founder of the Nexus Hub, an innovation centre, research, social development and emergency response unit for the West Africa/Sahel region headquartered in Abuja, Nigeria. She is currently Chair of the Africa Union Africa Vaccine Delivery Alliance (AVDA), serves on the Global advisory board of WomenLift health and is Chief Strategist CONVINCE Africa. Dr. Alakija is former Chief Humanitarian Coordinator for the government of Nigeria and led the joint national and international Humanitarian response in the Lake Chad region between 2016-2019.

Dr. Mugambi Joy is the Secretary General World Organization for Family Physicians (WONCA) Africa Region. She is the Vice President Commonwealth Medical Association East/Central/South Africa Region. Dr. Mugambi is a part-time lecturer at the Department of Family Medicine Kabarak University, Nakuru, Kenya. She is the Immediate Past Assistant Secretary General Kenya Medical Association. She has served as a medical superintendent at Eldama Ravine.  Dr. Mugambi serves in various government and non-state boards, has been the Patron Medical Students Association Kenya (MSAKE) she is the Director Comprehensive Advanced Life Support for Rural an organization that aims at training health workers working on emergency response in rural areas. In response to the Covid19 pandemic she served as Vice Chair of the Kenya Medical Association Covid19 Response Advisory Committee (CRAC), she is serving as a Member of the National Response Covid19 Mental Health Sub-committee and was part of the team that implemented a National health workers mental health program. Dr. Mugambi is also trained and certified on vaccinology by East Africa Center for Vaccine and Immunization (ECAVI). Dr. Mugambi is one of the first Kenyan trained female Family Physicians from Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya. She is passionate about Quality Primary HealthCare, Community engagement, Health Equity and Planetary health. On her free time she loves hiking, bird watching and farming.

Eda Selebatso is a mother of four children, two of whom have rare conditions. Eda founded Botswana organisation for Rare Diseases (BORDIS) with her husband after experiencing the challenges that families affected by rare diseases in Botswana deal with. Eda is the current Chairperson of BORDIS. She holds a PgD in Project Management and a BSc in Biology and Chemistry. Eda is passionate about human development issues. Her career spans about two decades in the health, conservation, education and mining sectors. During her career she has supported organisations achieve their business goals. She is experienced in project management, PMO management and support, stakeholder management, risk management, quality management, Programme management, Strategic management, sustainable development, business continuity management, health and environmental management, performance management among others. Eda has led and contributed to several flagship innovations in her country in her career. Her career was interrupted in 2014 when she resigned to take care of her children and support them through their health challenges. She continues to apply her skills as a pioneer in rare diseases in Botswana and globally. She serves in different global rare diseases organisations like UN NGO committee for Rare Diseases, Rare Diseases International, International Gaucher Alliance, International MPS Network and International Rare Diseases Research Consortium. She believes a person with a rare condition is equally worthy of life as any human being, and has potential to contribute to society. Eda is currently working on different programs to address health inequities and social injustices that rare disease patients and their families are faced with daily.

Waihiga Mwaura is an award-winning Kenyan journalist and Special Projects Editor and news-anchor at Citizen TV in Nairobi, Kenya. He is the 2018 BBC Komla Dumor award winner, 2015 Mohammed Amin Africa award winner and a 3-time Media Council of Kenya AJEA nominee. He has moderated panel discussions on varied topics in Nairobi, Lagos, and London for Citizen TV, the London School of Economics, World Bank and BBC, among others.

Dr. Priya Balasubramaniam is a public health professional with over 20 years of experience in large scale implementation research, education and program planning in academic, non-profit and government settings. Her interests and expertise are in public policy, health systems strengthening, universal health, role of the private sector in health and health technology innovation directed at strengthening health systems in low and middle-income countries. She has a multi-disciplinary background and has assisted in shaping health system capacity and research in India, Southeast Asia, East Africa, the United States and Canada with demonstrated success with field-based mandates as well as in strategic program development roles in developed and emerging heath markets. She is director of the Centre of Sustainable Health Innovations, Singapore/India and co-founder of the tripartite- Innovation for Universal Health Collaborative to initiate south-south dialogues around leveraging low-cost technological innovations and new models of healthcare in Asia and Africa. She is also co-founder of the Mutual Learning Platform for Mixed Health Systems that convenes the private sector and public health stakeholders for evidence sharing and building   interventional capacity for stronger health systems. In her current position as Senior Public Health Scientist at the Public Health Foundation of India, she directs the Universal Health Coverage Initiative (www.uhcindia.org), one of India’s seminal health policy exercises on health system reform and co-authored the Government of India’s High Level Expert Group recommendations on universal health coverage as part of the country’s 12th Five Year Plan.  Dr. Balasubramaniam’s other projects at include developing a research agenda for Urban Health in the region (spanning social innovation, governance and public-private sector collaborations in health). She also spearheads projects around health services delivery that includes a partnership with the Consortia of Affordable Technologies (CamTech) which mentors and seed-funds early stage social impact health innovations in Asia and Africa and the Grand Challenges Grant winner, the Biodiaspora Partnership that tracks and models infectious and vector borne disease through human movement patterns. She has also been a frequent advisor on health systems and policy to numerous multi-bi lateral organisations including WHO, IDRC Canada, the European Commission, the World Bank, the Wellcome Trust, USAID, DfID, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Dr. Balasubramaniam has authored several reports, policy briefs as well as peer-reviewed publications over her career as both a clinician and researcher. She works closely with municipal and state governments and served on a taskforce on Primary Healthcare constituted Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India and is member of the Technical Review Groups on Urban Health constituted by the Ministry of Urban Development. She serves on the editorial board of the International Journal of Health Governance, series editor- Globalization and Health and is regional editorial advisor of Oxford University Press’s Healthy Cities and Communities Encyclopedia. She is frequent advisor on health systems and policy to numerous multi-bi lateral organisations including WHO, IDRC Canada, the European Commission, the World Bank, the Wellcome Trust, USAID, DfID, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.  Dr. Balasubramaniam holds visiting faculty positions at the National University of Singapore and the Keenan Research Centre, St. Michaels Hospital in Toronto, Canada. She is also a Fellow at the Institute for Health System Innovation and Policy, at the Questrom School of Business, Boston University. She has authored several reports, policy briefs as well as peer-reviewed publications over her career as both a clinician and researcher. She serves on a taskforce on Primary Healthcare constituted Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India and is member of the Technical Review Group on Urban Health Planning formed the Ministry of Urban Development in addition. Dr. Balasubramaniam’s academic background includes degrees in Public Policy and Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, International Health from the University of Texas Health Science Centre, Houston and training in Dental Public Health and Dentistry from the University of Toronto and University of Madras, India.

Shehnaz (MPH) is a health policy and systems researcher and activist with a particular interest in feminist, decolonial scholarship and praxis. She is also an occupational therapist with 10 years of experience serving vulnerable and marginalised communities in South Africa and the UK. She is the cofounder of African Health Futures, an initiative aimed at re-imagining health systems drawing on transformative, indigenous, feminist approaches to achieve health equity and social justice. Currently Shehnaz manages the Sheiham Family/Wits Programme on social determinants of health and health inequality at the School of Public Health, Wits University. She was also a researcher on a behaviour change intervention study called the 'Sonke CHANGE Trial’, which sought to determine the effectiveness of a multi-level gender-transformation model in preventing men’s use of violence against woman and girls. She is a senior Atlantic Fellow for Health Equity at Tekano, and was named an Emerging Voices for Global Health in 2018. Shehnaz serves on the steering committee of the People’s Health Movement, a global network of grassroots health activists, civil society organisations and academics committed to advocating for affordable, accessible, equitable health for all. Her research, policy engagement and activism has focused on strengthening the implementation of a community health worker policy and primary health care re-engineering policy in an NHI context.

Professor Myriam Sidibe is the Chief Mission Officer and Founder of Brands on a Mission, a B-Corp aiming to get Brands and Companies to drive impact in health and well-being through their business models. She is also the co-founder and Chair of the Kenya National Business Compact on Coronavirus and the woman behind the multi-award winning and UN recognized Global Handwashing Day now celebrated in over 100 countries.  From within Unilever, she has created a movement to change the handwashing behaviors of one billion people, the single biggest hygiene behavior change program in the world. In addition, Myriam is a Research Fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government of Harvard Kennedy School and a honorary Professor of the Practice at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.  She is the author of the best-selling book #1 Business Ethics Brands on a Mission : How to Achieve Social Impact and Business Growth through Purpose (Routledge 2020) and her TED talk The Simple Power of Handwashing has been viewed more than 1 million times.   She is a regular contributor to the Entrepreneur and is regularly featured in FT, Forbes, HBR, The Guardian, Huffington Post, Reuters and CNBC.

Executive Director of the Uganda Water and Sanitation Network, a network of more than 200 Civil Society Organizations and a Board Member of the Africa Civil Society Network. Experienced Senior leader, with a demonstrated history of working in the non-profit organization management industry for more than 20 years. Skilled Passionate on Strong CSO Voice to advance WASH SDG 6 financing for the Africa Water Vision 2025. Dedicated to Strategic Leadership, Organizational Health, Institutional Strengthening, Policy Reforms, and Strategic Partnerships. Strong business development professional with a Master's degree focused on International Development from American University Washington DC.