The African Union Appoints Amref Health Africa Global CEO to Board of Africa Centre’s for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC)

NAIROBI, 8 August 2019: 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).

Dr Gitahi will join the Governing Board of the Africa CDC pursuant to article 10 of the statute of the Africa CDC. Dr Gitahi was appointed by the Commissioner for Social Affairs, Her Excellency Mrs. Aminra Elfadil of the African Union Commission.

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 honoured to be nominated to 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 achievement of universal health coverage (UHC) by 2030 and has membership across countries, private sector and civil society organisations.

About Amref Health Africa

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.

For more information contact:
Elizabeth Ntonjira
Senior Manager
Corporate Communications – Global
Elizabeth.Ntonjira@amref.org
+254 719369730

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