Africa CDC and the New Public Health Order
We are delighted to welcome Dr John Nkengasong, the first Director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), to the School to introduce the work of this newly established institution. Africa is at a tipping point as the African Union Commission drives a number of aggressive continental integration initiatives to meet Agenda 2063 – the Africa we want. These initiatives include the Continental Free Trade Agreement, the Free Movement of People, and the Open Skies Agreement. These initiatives are all geared towards facilitating the movement of 1.2 billion people and goods on the continent. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention was established to ensure the public health goals of Agenda 2063 which requires a new public health order to ensure Africa’s health and economic security. Dr Nkengasong’s presentation will review five components of the new public health order and highlight potential areas of partnership.
Dr John Nkengasong, a world-leading virologist, was appointed the Director of Africa CDC in 2016. Prior to that he was the Associate Director of Laboratory Science and Chief of the International Laboratory Branch at the Division of Global HIV/AIDS, Center for Global Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), United States. Dr Nkengasong worked for the World Health Organisation from 1993 to 1995 where he served as the Chief of Virology at the Collaborating Centre on HIV diagnostics at the Department of Microbiology, Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium. Dr Nkengasong is widely published, with a particular interest in HIV diagnosis, pathogenesis, and HIV drug resistance, with over 120 papers in journals that include the Lancet, Journal of Virology, Journal of Infectious Diseases and Journal of Clinical Microbiology. He has published multiple book chapters on implementation of HIV therapy in resource-constrained settings. Dr Nkengasong received the US Secretary of Health and Human Services Award for Excellence in Public Health Protection Research and multiple Director’s Recognition Awards. Dr Nkengasong received a Master of Tropical Biomedical Science from the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium, in addition to a Masters Degree in Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences and a PhD in Medical Sciences (Virology) from the University of Brussels, School of Medicine, Belgium. He also holds a certificate in management and leadership from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.
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