The World Health Organisation (WHO) had commended the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the then Director General, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, now a Deputy Director General of the global health body, as well as Acting Regional Director of WHO African Region, for a very brilliant job in containing the virus.
The WHO’s Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, on February 4, 2025, appointed Dr. Ihekweazu to serve as the WHO Acting Regional Director for Africa. He replaces Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, who led the regional office for 10 years.
This appointment comes after the unexpected death of Dr. Faustine Engelbert Ndugulile, a career politician from Tanzania, who was slated to be the next regional director. He died in November, only three months after he was elected.
Ihekweazu, a Nigerian, is the Assistant Director-General for the Division of Health Emergency Intelligence and Surveillance Systems in the Emergencies Programme at WHO. He joined WHO in 2021.
Meanwhile, encomiums have continued to pour in for Ihekweazu on his appointment as the Acting Regional Director of the WHO African Region, saying his remarkable expertise and leadership in public health have been instrumental in shaping effective health interventions across Africa.
Even his critics are confident that his tenure in this role will drive impactful policies, innovative solutions, and sustainable progress in the region’s public health landscape.
In a congratulatory message, Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, said: “The appointment of Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu as Acting Regional Director WHO African Region is a highly welcomed development for the WHO as an institution, for Nigeria, and for the African continent. Ihekweazu is among the best public health scientists and practitioners that Nigeria has to offer to the world. His remarkable achievements in various leadership positions, including as first Director General of NCDC, and subsequently ADG WHO, are testament to his capacity, resilience and character. At this critical moment in the world, WHO AFRO needed a leader like him to manage the transition until a substantive Regional Director is elected in May.
“Personally, there have been outreaches on Ihekweazu to consider throwing his hat into the ring for the substantive position, but for his loyalty to the mission and his present assignment, Dr Chikwe has so far resisted. We hope in the coming days all continental leaders will see the value of this Acting Appointment and join with us to encourage Ihekweazu to make the leap, for which we will strongly support.”
A Nigerian philanthropist with two decades of advocacy, Mrs. Toyin Ojora Saraki, said: “As a Special Advisor, World Health Organisation (WHO) African Region Independent Advisory Group (IAG), I extend my warmest congratulations to Ihekweazu, a distinguished Nigerian public health leader, on his appointment as Acting Regional Director of the World Health Organisation Africa.
“A long-time ally, partner, and friend of the Wellbeing Foundation Africa, Ihekweazu has been a steadfast champion of global health security and resilient health systems. I look forward to continued collaboration in driving meaningful progress for Africa’s health and wellbeing, and I wish him every success in this vital role!”
She said: “As Dr Matshidiso Moeti concludes her historic tenure as the first woman to serve as World Health Organisation Regional Director for Africa, I join the Wellbeing Foundation Africa, as committed members of the World Health Organisation Civil Society Commission and an accredited Non-State Actor of the World Health Organisation Africa in expressing our deepest gratitude for her remarkable leadership and dedication to strengthening health systems across the continent.”
The inaugural Director, Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (ACDC), Dr. John Nkengasong, in a foreword to ‘An Imperfect Storm: A pandemic and the Coming of Age of a Nigerian Institution- A Memoir’, stated: “Amid the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, NCDC’s journey stands as a testament to leadership, resilience, and the capacity for transformation in the face of adversity. When Ihekweazu was appointed to lead NCDC in 2016, little did he know that he was steering towards a challenge that would redefine his role and chart a new course for public health in Africa’s most populous country.”
Nkengasong added: “I still remember that phone call from Ihekweazu in February 2020. His tone, usually composed and measured, carried a sense of urgency as he conveyed the news—the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Nigeria.”
Nkengasong stated, “as the former leader of the Africa CDC, I had the privilege of observing firsthand the remarkable journey of Ihekweazu at the NCDC. From the onset in January 2017, as we commenced the process of operationalising the Africa CDC, I had the opportunity to collaborate closely with Chikwe as he had a similar task but at a national level shaping NCDC.”
In his description of the book’s content, Nkengasong said, “Chikwe, with the support of his amiable wife, Vivianne, takes readers on an intimate journey of Nigeria’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, offering a deeply personal narrative of their experiences and the intricate challenges they faced. This book is not merely a memoir; it is a compelling chronicle of leadership, enterprise, and service in the heart of Africa, breaking the mould of commonly portrayed stories and unveiling a narrative that’s often left untold.”
The former Vice President of Nigeria, Professor Yemi Osibanjo GCON, described the book as “a unique account of Nigeria’s fight against the Covidn-19 pandemic. NCDC emerged from that experience as a beacon of hope in our nation’s darkest hours. The book provides a narrative of resilience, diplomacy and the collective effort against a common challenge.”
Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said, the book “is a riveting account of the battle against COVID-19 by one of Nigeria’s frontline heroes in the battle, Chikwe Ihekweazu and his wife and partner Vivianne. But the book is much more than that. It is a fascinating journey through multiple facets of the national and global public health landscape.”
Executive Director, Africa No Filter, Moky Makura, said: “An Imperfect Storm is an excellent playbook on leadership in an African context and a powerful guide to building a resilient African Institution.
Ihekweazu is an infectious disease epidemiologist and public health leader with over 25 years of experience in senior leadership roles at the WHO, the NCDC, the South African National Institute for Communicable Diseases, the United Kingdom’s (UK’s) Health Protection Agency (HPA), and Germany’s Robert Koch Institute. He is the recipient of the Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) awarded by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, for his service.
Vivianne Ihekweazu, during the public unveiling of the book in Lagos on Friday August 16, 2024, said while Nigeria could be said to have overcome the pandemic, it drastically affected the economy and the international migration of health workers has intensified.
Nigeria is certainly not alone in this situation, but the consequences in the country are far-reaching. The doctor-patient ratio is estimated to be 1:5,000, compared to WHO’s recommended 1:600. As a result, when Chikwe’s appointment to WHO was announced, there were murmurs that the country was losing another skilled medical professional. Now he is back for Africa.
According to Director-General of the WHO, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu, “the book provides a compelling narrative of Nigeria’s COVID-19 response, as told through Chikwe’s unique lens as DG of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control. I commend this book for its exploration of Nigeria’s resilient response—a true testament to collaborative efforts, leadership, and the unwavering spirit that influenced an entire nation facing a global crisis. I recommend this book to leaders across the world aspiring to strengthen their country’s health security, as it provides valuable insights to navigate health challenges.”
Africa is currently facing “An Imperfect Storm” and with the recent appointment of Ihekweazu as the Acting Regional Director of the World Health Organization African Region, there is wide spread enthusiasm that the Storm will be tamed and Africa will come out of stronger with a more resilient Healthcare system.
Several studies have shown that the future of public health in Africa, and indeed across the world, rests in large part on the ability of countries to leverage the use of data through sharing and linking data and learning from each other.
On how to build Africa’s capacity for pandemic and epidemic intelligence, Ihekweazu recently wrote in Brookings: “The COVID-19 pandemic revealed that coordination and collaboration between countries on surveillance and epidemic intelligence were poor and led to ineffective and inefficient decision-making. This poor collaboration was not limited to countries with poor capacity but applied also to countries with advanced capacities and good socio-economic relations.”
According to him, “while many countries generate data, the potential for meaningful analysis remains underutilised as the data are collected in ad hoc ways, with differing standards that are not sufficiently connected to answer complex questions. The pandemic also revealed that channels of coordination for countries to learn from each other and produce global models, or share national insights was limited. Moreover, many countries have not prioritized the development of public health surveillance and intelligence systems on account of limited capacities and scarce resources.”
He added: “Clearly, there are immense benefits to be gained from better sharing of data related to health risks, vulnerabilities, and outcomes. The sharing of data can facilitate timely response, robust research, and overall, better-informed policy outcomes. Despite these benefits, several barriers and challenges to data sharing persist.”
In response to an increased number of disease outbreaks affecting African countries, Ihekweazu said the World Health Organisation (WHO) Africa Regional Office (AFRO) introduced the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) framework in 1998. IDSR was introduced to strengthen data collection, analysis, and use in African countries. The overall goal is to improve the detection and response to the leading causes of illness, death, and disability in the region. Regrettably, he said this strategy never received the due investments it needed, and implementation was very poor. He said both local and global resource streams favored vertical disease programmes over an integrated approach.
Nevertheless, in some countries, its introduction led to improvements, including improved timeliness and completeness of surveillance data, increased national-level review, and better use of surveillance data for outbreak preparedness and response.
Ihekweazu said in addition to data on disease occurrence, and outcome, there is also a complex web of interconnected biological, public health, and economic factors that contribute to the emergence and spread of diseases. Yet, data collected from these other drivers are often not systematically connected or shared with health data, leading to limited opportunities to determine their impact on risk. For example, he said in many African countries, there are limited platforms for data sharing and cross-sector analysis between human and animal health sectors, despite the increased occurrence of zoonotic diseases.
He said several countries in Africa are at different phases in building their data collection, analysis, and broader epidemic intelligence capabilities. Many are in the process of digitalizing their surveillance systems. However, he said these processes are proceeding in an organic, uncoordinated manner as countries make critical decisions on what software and hardware to use, without getting appropriate strategic and technical advice.
Ihekweazu said the WHO through its new Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence Hub in Berlin, working in collaboration with the Africa Regional Office (AFRO) is putting together processes, guidelines, and tools to support African countries in developing their surveillance and intelligence infrastructure. He said a peer-to-peer learning environment will also be created and nurtured to enable sharing between countries.
A public health expert, Ihekweazu said several African countries face competing priorities—from frequent infectious disease outbreaks to an increasing prevalence of non-communicable diseases, as well as challenging socio-economic indicators. He said the available resources are limited, and areas such as surveillance system and epidemic intelligence strengthening are under resourced. He said factors such as the limited availability of health workers and infrastructure often affect the ability to collect, analyse, report, and use data.
The epidemiologist said despite the challenges, there remains immense potential for the region. He said the increased focus on these capabilities by the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence, and the growth of regional health organisations such as the Africa CDC, presents an opportunity to strengthen epidemic intelligence in the region.
He said, in addition, recognising the challenges facing African countries, the Hub is developing a collaborative intelligence approach clustered around three activities: Connect data, solutions, and communities of practice globally; innovate solutions and processes; and strengthen capabilities for forecasting, detection, and assessment of risks to provide actionable insights for prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery from health threats and emergencies.
