Web Article
CS4ME, GFAN AFRICA AND GFAN AP LAUNCH THE REVAMPED #MEETTHETARGET CAMPAIGN TO ACHIEVE #THEUHCTHATWENEED
On 26th and 27th July 2023, together with Civil Society for Malaria Elimination (CS4ME), Global Fund Advocates Network Africa (GFAN Africa) and GFAN Asia-Pacific (GFAN AP) held a two-day virtual event to launch the revamped “Meet The Target” campaign; gather inputs for the cross regional statement – #TheUHCThatWeNeed; facilitate a conversation on the current state of the health-related political declarations with a focus on the High Level Meeting (HLM) on Universal Health Coverage (UHC); and to reflect on the linkages of the HLM outcomes on Domestic Resource Mobilisation (DRM) and on resource mobilisation efforts of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund).
At the start of the event on Day One, Rosemary Mburu, Executive Director of WACI Health and Rachel Ong, Regional Coordinator of GFAN AP provided an overview of the webinar and welcomed all participants. Followed by which, Rachel Ong facilitated a quick ‘getting to know each other session’ using Mentimenter to understand the demographics and area of work of the participants.
Zeinabou Idé, Senior Programs Officer and Advocacy Team Lead at Impact Sante Afrique (ISA) shared the background of the #MeetTheTarget campaign launched in 2022 with the objective of supporting resource mobilisation for the Global Fund and highlighted the activities that took place during the Seventh Replenishment campaign year. Anukriti Singh, Communications and Media Officer at GFAN AP gave an overview of the revamped #MeetTheTarget campaign which has three objectives – to continue the momentum to mobilise resources for the Seventh Replenishment of the Global Fund and meet “at least US$18 billion” target; encourage and advocate governments of implementing countries to increase DRM for health and for HIV, TB and malaria responses in line with #TheUHCThatWeNeed to leave no one behind; and to engage and mobilise potential private sector donors including High Net-Worth Individuals (HNWI) for the Global Fund resources mobilisation efforts. (0:20:30 – 0:35:00)
“During COVID-19 it is well know that the private sector increased its wealth dramatically, we haven’t seen that wealth reach or reflected in the funding for the three diseases or funding for health. In fact, during the Seventh Replenishment, there was very minor funding from private sector sustained but it definitely did not grow like the way we saw their own wealth grow.”
Joining in, Claudia Ahumada, Manager, Civil Society and Communities Advocacy, Political and Civil Society Advocacy (PCSA), External Relations and Communications (ERCD) presented ‘The evolving advocacy ecosystem and its implications for our partnerships with civil societies and communities’, to reflect on the changing advocacy ecosystem and many challenges that civil society advocates are facing. She added, “the success of campaigns like this one [Meet The Target] depend on bigger picture challenges that we’re all facing in advocacy”. The Civil society space is shrinking, mainly due to three challenges – attacks on organising at national level; threats to community-led organising at international level, mirroring and amplifying what we see at the national level; and decreasing funding for CS and communities. Even during COVID-19 CS took on more work, the funding didn’t increase, just the scope of work has been increasing for CS but not funding to sustain the advocacy efforts.
The conversation then tried to answer the question: what can we do to mitigate these challenges? Claudia shared one of the things Global Fund has been working on, is an advocacy roadmap, which will be available within September. The roadmap also outlines the role of Global Fund partnership and secretariat when it comes to responding to the shrinking space of advocacy for CS. (0:37:31 – 1:00:15)
“The good thing to remember about the action agenda is that it was developed by multi stakeholder taskforce on UHC and was organised by the help of different CS consultations, building on the 2019 political declaration as well as latest research and data on UHC, including the States 2030 UHC review.”
Laura Philidor, Civil Society Engagement Mechanism (CSEM) Communications and Policy Officer shared an overview of the process of UHC HLM, what has been done, and about the political declaration negotiation. “This [UHC HLM] is a great opportunity to make sure to reinvigorate progress on UHC, as we know that SDG 3 has gone a bit out of track due to COVID-19, climate crisis etc.” We are now on the last process of negotiation on political declaration. Just before the multistakeholder hearing, a meeting was held to align the demands from UHC, TB and PPPR HLMs to have convergence between the three declarations. The focus areas were PHC, gender equality, social participation, accountability, legislation and regulation for health, vulnerable groups etc. It was a key moment to make the key asks visible to the UN General Assembly, co-facilitators and member states.
Laura highlighted eight action areas (key asks) – (1) champion political leadership for UHC; (2) leave no one behind; (3) adopt enabling laws and regulations; (4) strengthen the health and care workforce for quality health care; (5) invest more, invest better; (6) move together towards UHC; (7) guarantee gender equality in health; and lastly, (8) connect UHC and health security. The Zero Draft of the political declaration of the UHC HLM is aligned with the action agenda and the eight actions. However, there are still gaps that need to be addressed, CSEM launched a CS survey to get feedback. The survey results were then forwarded to the member state missions in New York. For community advocacy, the strategy has been to mobilise CS and communities at the country level to reach out to national leaders, engage with member states in New York and engage with the group of friends of UHC. Laura ended the presentation with sharing advocacy resources that can be found here. (1:01:05 – 1:14:35)
Sharing updates on the TB HLM, Quentin Batreau, Communication and Advocacy Officer, GFAN and TB HLM affected communities & CS Coordination Hub, informed that the TB Zero Draft was the first to come out. It seemed to be a clear step down from the 2018 political declaration, with significant improvements but not enough. The key issue of the Zero Draft when it came out was the lack of strong committal language and few numerical targets. Now there are few numerical targets but still not as strong language as communities and CS would prefer. The discussions have now gone from an open form to a series of bilateral discussions with key challenges with tensions between Russia, China, Ukraine and the United States which has delayed the drafts. The
“There are five key community asks – clear, measurable targets on diagnosing and treating people with TB; commitments that explicitly support the human rights of people affected by TB; accelerate the research, development, roll – out and access to new TB vaccines, diagnostics, drugs and other essential tools; inclusion of clear financial targets for TB response and for research; and, provisions for an accountability framework.”
latest development is that the Heads of States have received the invitations from the President of the UNGA and at any point now, the silent proceedings can start. There are a few actions that still can be done, even though the window to influence the process has closed. These actions are – push on your governments for high level representation at the meetings and reach out to check that your country missions have passed on the invitation to their central governments; ask to be included in your country’s delegation – leverage the modalities; ask for commitments beyond the political declaration; join GFAN Deepdive calls; and, let GFAN know if you are planning anything in NYC or have intel from your governments. (1:15:02 – 1:24:57)
Further, Courtenay Howe from StopAIDS UK and Eolann Mac Fadden from Frontline AIDS who is the Advisor, Health & Community Systems (On PPPR HLM), shared a glimpse of where we are at with the PPPR HLM, which is the first ever to happen in 2023, co-facilitated by Israel and Morocco. Courtenay highlighted, the goal of engagement in the PPPR HLM is to further mobilise political momentum, including through the integration of a multisectoral approach towards pandemic prevention, preparedness and response. The Multi-stakeholder hearings for PPPR high-level meeting has focused on two key topics: lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic; and investing in pandemic prevention, preparedness and responses. The key focus areas of the current zero draft include Equity; Global Governance; Leadership & accountability; Overarching Health Related Issues; and Financing and investments.
Eolann Mac Fadden shared the first primary request going forward with the PPPR HLM work was to form some sort of coordination mechanism to be created as soon as possible with the goal of allowing free and equal participation of CSOs and communities into these PPR discussions. Unfortunately this wasn’t taken up by the lead organisers for various reasons and caused disappointment. Despite this challenge, CS worked amongst ourselves through different global and regional and national networks and worked to create some agreed upon unified asks around PPPR. They key community asks also included – commitments in the declaration recognising the role of community leadership and representation in decision – making processes and governance bodies for any new PPPR structures, from conceptualization and design to implementation, and at both the global and national level; language in the declaration that would commit to equity in PPPR and also commit to
“Initially the big challenge was creating coordinated community and civil society asks for the process as there have been no civil society coordination mechanism set up for this stream of HLM, unlike with TB and UHC which has been coordinated effectively by CSEM and STOPTB coalition for CS participation.”
actions to achieve this, reforming IP restrictions to strengthen availability to vaccines and medical technologies, access guarantees in publicly funded medical research, and increasing regional manufacturing capacity through licensing and technology transfer; and that the declaration would commit to building on the existing infrastructure and expertise in the responses to HIV, TB, and other diseases, as the strongest base from which to develop effective PPPR, and that the declaration would commit to continued sustainable financing of these ongoing responses. (1:25:19 – 1:40:38)
“The Task-force brought together local elites from Anglophone and Francophone Africa to further support the ongoing advocacy for increased and sustainable domestic resources for health and progressive policies that promote health equality.”
Zeinabou Idé shared an overview of the African Union Summit held on July 16 in Nairobi, Kenya. The theme for the meeting was, “Acceleration of African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA ) Implementation”. GFAN Africa took the opportunity to launch a Regional Task-force of parliamentarians on DRM, on the sidelines of the summit. The task-force consists of Parliamentarians from Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, DRC, Ghana, Kenya, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The objectives of the task force are – to engage parliamentarians of their respective constituencies on issues related to DRM, investing in community health workers, and facilitate a dialogue on integrating UHC, PPPR and to bridge financial and implementation gaps of HIV, TB and Malaria in the National
Strategic Plan; create space for exchange and sharing of good practices among parliamentarians from different regions of Africa; create synergies with civil society on DRM for Health; and, endorse and update when needed the Terms of Reference and roadmap of the Task Force 2023-2025. The major outcomes of the side meeting was the adoption of Parliamentarians’ Declaration by the Parliamentarians Task-force on DRM for Health in Africa, also known as the “Nairobi Declaration”, and the Task- force has committed through the declaration to formalise a genuine collaboration between parliamentarians and CSOs for effective advocacy on sustainable DRM for health in Africa in their respective constituencies. (1:43:10 – 1:51:20)
Fitsum Lakew, AU Liaison Manager & CISPHA Coordinator, WACI Health, added GFAN Africa has done quite a lot in gathering inputs and experiences from CS for the three HLMs. For TB HLM, the civil society inputs have been mobilised through GFAN and StopTB Partnership, especially on community representation on research and development. As part of the advocacy efforts, there have been two requests, especially to the G7 and G20 countries to be more flexible on sharing IP; and, and to be more flexible in providing technological advancements, especially for vaccine manufacturing to further strengthen health responses and health service issues in Africa. This is a cross-cutting issue in the three HLMs. On UHC HLM, GFAN Africa is working with the African Union to further align agendas. (1:51:25 – 1:55:31)
The first day of the webinar ended with a panel discussion moderated by Rosemary Mburu titled ‘What Is At Stake?’, joined by Gavin Reid, Lead, Community Engagement, Community Rights and Gender Department at Global Fund and Ida Savadogo, Coordinator, CRG Francophone [third panellist, Onesmus Mlewa Kalama, Acting CEO of EANNASO – CRG Africa could not join due to technological difficulties]. The conversation revolved around three key aspects – to provide an overview of the current expected challenges in terms of responding to HIV, TB, Malaria; in the context of community and civil society, our work in terms of access and what are some of the priorities that we can tap into; and lastly, in terms of meeting the targets within the context of Global Fund Seventh Replenishment, DRM and finding the people.
Gavin in his remarks highlighted the context of the broader landscape, which is sobering with many countries still trying to recover economically and fiscally from COVID- 19, with “growing wealth inequalities and a well resourced anti feminist and anti-gender movement, as well as shrinking civil space, conflicts, geopolitical tensions, and increasingly violent climate trends”. He added, even though Global Fund didn’t reach the US$18 billion target, the Global Fund is investing US$5 billion towards systems for health which will substantially extend the reach of services to vulnerable and marginalised groups. Advancing UHC requires long term investments to strengthen systems for health, particularly which reach the most vulnerable and marginalised groups. Those systems are often best placed to detect, prevent and respond to emerging health threats. Some of the challenges that we face is finding ways to achieve greater efficiency and integration which includes how funds are raised, how funds are pulled and managed in countries. There’s a significant scope for improving how we deliver services, and key to this is community leadership engagement. The U of UHC, won’t be obtained automatically, it also requires deliberate sustained action to remove human rights and gender related barriers to services. (1:59:30 – 2:08:33)
“It’s absolutely critical that we redouble our efforts to ensure that everyone is able to access quality health services that they need, when and where they need them and without enduring financial hardship.”
“TB is always linked to poor socio-economic context, through the UHC HLM we can lay emphasis on social and economical development.”
Ida Savadogo shared salient points concerning Francophone Africa, specifically West and Central Africa. In their work, the organisation has mapped out the involvement of CS in Global Fund processes, where it was observed, the participation of CS is very low resulting in enhanced efforts being taken up in West and Central Africa with CSOs to increase their engagement to fight against HIV, TB and Malaria. There has been an increase in infections, in stigmatisation and persistent discrimination, and an increase in financial pressure on the global response. This has created a gap in not just meeting the target but has dimmed chances of accelerating the response. Ida recommended that to fight against HIV, TB and Malaria, we need to keep the human rights of key populations in the forefront; fight discriminatory laws; intensify responses especially to CLM communities; and governments should increase investments in gender equality and human rights. Ida highlighted, unfortunately, TB is left behind in discussions and interventions because many times the diagnosis isn’t correct and many countries do not have efficient tools and capacity, which leads to more transmission. There is even hindrance in accessing medication in African countries, or the ones available aren’t the latest ones. It is imperative to mobilise funds at national and international levels, in many countries the funds for TB responses are ear-marked and 44% of the needs are not met. There should be a community-led mechanism. For malaria the problems are the same as TB and the recommendation is for a conducive environment, integration of anti-malaria medication and various mechanisms to fight it at different levels and focal points. Communities are not always at the heart of the responses, to actually involve communities there needs to be efforts for capacity building and guidance, especially within the regulations and health systems of the countries. (2:08:44 – 2:21:05)
Day Two of the webinar started with introductory remarks from Rachel Ong, Rosemary Mburu and Olivia Ngou Executive Director, Impact Sante Afrique and Global Coordinator, CS4ME, followed by a quick recap of Day One by Niluka Perera, Advocacy, Programmes and Coordination Officer, GFAN AP. For the participants that did not join the previous webinar the Meet The Target campaign was presented again by Zeinabou Idé and Anukriti Singh.
“535 civil society representatives from 406 organisations were identified and trained in the key concepts of health financing, universal public health and budget advocacy, and committed to strengthening the advocacy in the decision-making process. 46 multisectoral partners (ministries of health and finance, bilateral partners, health financing experts, parliamentarians) have committed to co-facilitate training and work with civil society on health financing in each country.”
Sonia Hayatou, In-charge of Programs at ISA provided an update on the Joint Learning Agenda (JLA) programme for communities and CS. Objectives of the JLA are – empower local CSOs on issues related to health financing and UHC; strengthen efforts to promote the participation of CSOs in health financing policy and the implementation of UHC; promote meaningful and structured participation of CSOs in health financing and UHC, through advocacy and accountability activities. 20 countries in Sub–Saharan Africa, both French and English speaking countries have been trained under the JLA programme. The participation of CSOs in issues linked with health financing and UHC have been very limited, CSOs have a very important role in DRM which has become more vital since the COVID-19 pandemic, thus, there is a need for capacity building. The JLA takes into consideration different programmes and the priority is to attain UHC. The JLA was started two years ago, implemented in two phases. The first was a learning phase and the second was the implementation phase. JLA is a learning programme based on accountability, partnership, interest on data to give CSOs the necessary resources to participate in planning and decision-making pertaining to health financing and UHC. In the implementation phase, communication material to share information using newsletters and social media was important. In various countries coalitions got together to finalise their accountability and advocacy plans, which were reviewed by different NGOs. (0:24:30 – 0:38:20)
Joining on the second day again, Laura Philidor from CSEM and Halima Cooper-Stubbs, CSEM Communications Intern shared an overview of the UHC Zero Draft. The Zero Draft was not made publicly available. The most recent revision, revision two of the political declaration was shared with member states on 17 July. We are in the later stage of the process and the window is quite small for amending any major changes to the final declaration. But there is still an opportunity to directly reach out to member states and to national leaders to support the high level meeting on UHC. A number of areas have been already improved based on the feedback from CS like the health needs of key communities and vulnerable populations, training of health workers outlining stigma and discrimination, equitable pay for community health workers and lastly, language around essential services, on palliative and rehabilitative services were amended to make them stronger. However there are still few gaps – like specific spending targets of minimum 5%; missing surgical care, which is one of the essential measures to reduce maternal and infant mortality. Even maternal care had little place in the Draft; and, there was a huge gap in addressing community health workers and community-led processes. Akiko Mera, CSEM Advisory Group Member, joined to share her experience working on UHC in the Asia-Pacific region. The CS in Japan has been working with the stakeholders in creating a seamless communication channel, even before the UHC Zero Draft process started. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Japan has formed a separate Global Health Policy Division with which CSOs meet regularly, every two months. In Japan, CSOs in addition to the gaps raised by Laura and Halima, also highlighted issues where access is missing, concerning migrant workers and key populations. In the Asia-Pacific region countries like India, China, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Thailand have very good manufacturing capacity. But, because of the TRIPS waiver discussion access had been very limited in these countries. So that is also one of the issues we’ve been pushing. (0:40:15 – 1:02:45)
“Another thing we thought was a bit weak in this draft was – in this day and age we cannot ignore digital health and the intersection between that and also climate health crisis that is going on. I think some of the access issues really tie us between UHC & PPPR.
Niluka Perera presented the key asks from communities and CS for the political declarations of the three HLMs. These key asks have been compiled by various communities and civil society entities. Day Two of the webinar ended with Rachel Ong and Zeinabou Ide facilitating a session using mentimeter to understand the priorities and concerns of CS and communities attending the webinar. The findings of this session will be used as a base point to formulate a cross regional position paper on #TheUHCThatWeNeed.
Presentations:
- Zeinabou Idé and Anukriti Singh, Meet The Target Launch 2023. [download here]
- Claudia Ahumada, The evolving advocacy ecosystem and its implications for our partnerships with civil societies and communities. [download here]
- Laura Philidor, Overview on #TheUHCThatWeNeed. [download here]
- Quentin Batreau, TB HLM Updates. [download here]
- Courtenay Howe and Eolann Mac Fadden, PPPR HLM Updates. [download here]
- Zeinabou Idé, Outcomes of the African Union Summit. [download here]
- Ida Savadogo, CRG Francophone Africa Priorities. [download here]
- Sonia Hayatou, Joint Learning Agenda. [download here]
- Laura Philidor and Halima Cooper-Stubbs, Overview of the UHC PD. [download here]
- Niluka Perera, CS key asks for HLMs. [download here]
Speakers Bio
Zeinabou Idé
Senior Programs Officer and Advocacy Team Lead at Impact Sante Afrique (ISA)
Zeinabou has previously worked in the private sector of telecommunications and international organizations. She graduated from the Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI) training programme of the former US President Barack Obama, with Public Management option. She then worked as an international volunteer for La Francophonie in Cameroon as a communications and strategic officer. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Corporate Communication and a Master’s degree in Human Resources.
Anukriti Singh
Communications and Media Officer at GFAN AP
Anukriti Singh, based in Delhi, India has completed her graduation in Sociology from Delhi University and has recently completed Master’s in Sociology. She has previously worked as a freelance journalist for South Asian Insider, a New York-based weekly after which she worked at Evidence Action, India, on two national level public health programs (deworming and IFA Supplementation) then CREA on issues such as SRHR, gender rights, disability justice, feminist leadership and sex workers rights.
Claudia Ahumada
Manager, Civil Society and Communities Advocacy, The Global Fund
Claudia Ahumada is a global human rights lawyer and gender expert from Chile and Canada, specializing in participatory change. Working at the intersection of rights and evidence, she has built capacity and developed resources to meaningfully mainstream gender and diversity across change efforts. A former UNAIDS staff member, she denounced the institutional actions taken to discredit women who spoke out against harassment.
Laura Philidor
Advocacy and Communications Officer, CSEM Secretariat, WACI Health
Prior to joining the CSEM, Laura was a Youth Advocate at ONE Campaign, where she advocated for the end of preventable diseases by 2030. She was also a Public Affairs researcher at IPSOS on international public health concerns before joining Rare Diseases International (RDI) to raise awareness of challenges faced by the over 300 million Persons Living with a Rare Disease (PLWRD) worldwide. Laura holds a double master’s degree in Global Communications and Culture from CELSA (Communications and Journalism School) and Sorbonne Paris University.
Quentin Batréau
Communications and Advocacy Officer, GFAN
Quentin joined GFAN in 2021 after working for APCASO, a regional health advocacy network based in Bangkok and GFAN partner. He trained as a researcher, teaching sociology and political science at the Social Policy and Development program at Thammasat University, and defended his PhD thesis on refugee management in 2020 with Sciences Po. He also holds a master in Urban Studies from Sciences Po, and a double bachelor in Political Science and Mathematics from Sciences Po and Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. He has spent the last 10 years between Thailand, France and India, until moving to Fiji in 2019.
Courtenay Howe
Platform Coordinator (ACT-A)/ Senior Advocacy Advisor (STOPAIDS)
Courtenay joined STOPAIDS in November 2018. She coordinates the NGO Delegation to the Board of UNITAID. UNITAID is an international funder for HIV, TB and Malaria based in Geneva. It funds innovate solutions to access to medicines and diagnostics challenges in the three diseases. Before joining STOPAIDS she worked for the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and worked full-time as a yoga instructor.
Eolann Mac Fadden
Advisor, Health & Community Systems (On PPPR HLM) Frontline AIDS
Eolann is a committed global health professional, with expertise providing technical assistance and advocacy support to ensure marginalised communities have their voices heard on issues and challenges that impact them. Experience across PPPR, CSE, sexual and reproductive health and rights, HIV, GBV, and youth populations & adolescent girls.
Fitsum Lakew Alemayehu
AU Liaison Manager and CiSPHA Coordinator, WACI Health
Fitsum has a rich experience in field research; by which he has led numerous researches, evaluations, need assessments at Regional and National level on Education, Livelihood, Health and Agriculture. Furthermore, he has engaged with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) as a consultant to map and capture of good practices on the school-to-work transition in three (3) AU member states. Additionally, he is a member of the C-20 Health working group and has served a technical youth advisor of the Women and Youth TWG of the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) 2015/16.
Gavin Reid
Lead, Community Engagement at The Global Fund
Gavin is a passionate advocate for community leadership and meaningful engagement in decision-making and in community responses that maximize health outcomes and efforts to realize human rights and social justice for all. With over 25 years experience and expertise in delivering programs led by and for the most vulnerable, marginalized, excluded and criminalized populations, he currently leads work to strengthen inclusive community engagement in Global Fund.
Ida Lea Savadogo
Chargée de projet chez RAME
Le RAME est une organisation de la société civile Africaine de droit Burkinabè qui milite pour le dro.
Sonia Hayatou
In-charge of Programs at Impact Santé Afrique (ISA)
With a degree in chemistry, Sonia has worked in several multinationals in Europe as a Project Manager – IT Consultant in the field of health insurance. Passionate about fashion, she has also created a brand of textile accessories promoting African know-how, collaborating with a network of local associations helping destitute women in Burkina Faso.
Halima Cooper-Stubbs
CSEM Communications Intern
Halima Cooper-Stubbs is the CSEM Communications Intern and a student at the University of Cambridge.
Niluka Perera
Advocacy, Programmes and Coordination Officer at GFAN AP
Niluka Perera, based in Colombo, Sri Lanka started his engagements in SRHR advocacy in 2010, as a youth activist and has served as the Regional Coordinator of Youth Voices Count (YVC), a regional network of Young LGBT people in Asia Pacific. Niluka was a member of the Community, Rights and Gender Advisory Group of the Global Fund, and supported the formation of the Global Fund Youth Council which advises the Executive Director of the Global Fund. He holds a Masters’ Degree in Human Rights and Democratization from the University of Mahidol, Thailand and University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Rachel Ong
Regional Coordinator, GFAN AP
Rachel Ong has been the Regional Coordinator of GFAN Asia-Pacific since 2016, and in 2022 served as a co-facilitator of the C20 GHWG and member of the C20 Steering Committee. She was formerly the Constituency Focal Point of the Communities Delegation from 2009 to 2020 and has occupied various governance and leadership positions of Global Fund processes and mechanisms. She is from Singapore and has worked across the Asia-Pacific region since 1999 on youth and gender advocacy and has held various leadership and governance positions in regional and global community/civil society organisations and international institutions. She was based in Beijing, China from 2004 – 2008 as Project Manager of Positive Art Workshop. Rachel holds a double Business Degree in Marketing and Media Management from Edith Cowan University, Australia and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy of the National University of Singapore.
Rosemary Mburu
Executive Director, WACI Health
Based in Nairobi, Kenya. Ms. Mburu is a global health advocate and civil society leader in Africa working to create political will for improved health outcomes in Africa. Her areas of expertise include policy analysis; building political support for health outcomes; influencing decision making processes; mobilizing civil society and community voices for action; and promoting good participatory practice in clinical trials. Ms. Mburu has extensively worked on building and strengthening civil society and community organizing for health Advocacy in Africa. She oversees the Civil Society Platform on Health in Africa (CiSPHA); the Global Fund Advocates Network (GFAN)- Africa hub; and the Africa free of New HIV Infections (AfNHi) Network. She is a member of the Vaccine Advocacy Resource Group (VARG). Mburu is the Southern CSO representative on UHC2030.
Ms. Mburu has published several peer-reviewed articles and blogs including on: clinical trial ethics- International Journal of Clinical Practice; investments in HIV Prevention Research- African Journal of Reproductive Health; Biomedical HIV Prevention- BMC Proceedings; and strengthening primary health care- Lancet Global Health blog. Ms. Mburu holds a Masters in Public Health (MPH), Ohio University and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA), Frostburg State University.
Olivia Ngou
Founder and Executive Director, Impact Santé Afrique (ISA)
Prior to launching ISA, Olivia Ngou worked for 10 years with Malaria No More where she led the Cameroon and Africa programmes to rally political leaders, celebrities, the private sector and communities around malaria and prioritize the cause on their respective agendas. Olivia began her experience on malaria working with the United Nations Special Envoy for Malaria. She then taught a public health course at the City University of New York in the Health Section of the Wellness Project for undergraduate students at CITY College. She also worked as a research assistant for the Office of HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control in the New York City Department of Health and Mental Health; and took a leadership course on malaria eradication at Harvard University, Science of Eradication. She holds a Master’s degree in Public Health.
Recently, she developed a guide on community issues, social rights and gender in malaria control programs; and also a tool for Civil Society to increase participation in Global Fund mechanisms. Finally, she co-founded and established the first Global Civil Society Network for Malaria Elimination (CS4ME) which she is currently the global coordinator.