Key Qualifications

Dr. Chinua Akukwe, the Chair of the Technical Board, is a Professorial Lecturer (Professor) of the Departments of Global Health and Prevention and Community Health. Dr. Akukwe has extensive experience on HIV/AIDS Strategies, Policies and Programs in Africa as well as healthcare delivery systems in the continent. In the United States and abroad, Dr. Akukwe has extensive experience on Maternal and Child Health issues (with emphasis on infant mortality and early childhood development) and on community oriented primary care (COPC).

Dr. Akukwe is the ExecutiveChairman of the Africa Union Africa Diaspora Health Initiative, a continent-wide program focusing on linking Africa Diaspora health experts with specific health needs in African countries. He is the Chair of the World Bank Africa Diaspora Health Forum. Dr. Akukwe is the former Vice Chairman of the Executive Committee and Governing Board of the National Council for International Health (NCIH) now known as the Global Health Council, Washington, DC. He also served as the Chair of the NCIH Strategic Planning Committee that initiated its transformation into the Global Health Council.

Dr. Akukwe is a former Senior Policy Advisor to the Director of Health, Washington, DC. He served as the Scientific Coordinator of the US Congress mandated National Institutes of Health, District of Columbia Infant Mortality Initiative, Commission of Public Health, Washington, DC. Since 1995, Dr. Akukwe has served on National Expert Review Panels for MCH programs for the US Department of Health and Human Services. He served as member of the Editorial Board of the America Journal of Public Health for five years.

Dr. Akukwe is a Fellow of the America College of Epidemiology, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine in London and a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, Washington, DC. He served as a Senior Visiting Fellow at the National Medical Association, Washington, DC and also as a Senior Visiting Fellow at the American Council for Voluntary International Action (InterAction), Washington, DC. Chinua Akukwe is a member of the Board of Directors of the Constituency for Africa, Washington, DC, and, the Association of Physicians and Scientists of Africa Descent (ASPAD), United States. He is a member of the African America Unity Caucus, Washington, DC

Dr. Akukwe is the author of three books on healthcare issues in Africa, the author of another book on development challenges in Africa, and served as the editor of a special edition of a Journal on healthcare delivery issues in Africa. He has authored multiple book chapters. Dr. Akukwe has written or co-written more than 50 technical reports for various domestic and international organizations. Dr. Akukwe developed the Communicable Diseases Guidelines of the Africa Development Bank. He also developed the African Union Implementation Framework for Achieving Universal Access to HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malarial services in Africa by 2010.

Dr. Akukwe received his MD degree from the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital. He holds a Masters Degree in Public Health with Distinction from the Hebrew University School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Jerusalem, Israel. He was in the first class (1998) of the Public Health Leadership Scholar program of the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, Baltimore. He is a two-time Fellow in Minority Health at the University of North Carolina School of Public Health at Raleigh.

Dr. Akukwe’s contribution to public health is recognized in Who’s Who in America (since 2000) and Who’s Who in the World (since 2004).