USA— The United States has formed a new entity to deal with global health threats, the Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy, under the State Department and has appointed ex-Africa CDC Director, Amb. Dr. John N. Nkengasong as Bureau Chief.

Ambassador-at-Large Dr. John N. Nkengasong is a renowned Cameroonian health expert and in May 2022 was appointed to lead the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

The State Department represented by the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, announced that Dr. Nkengasong would lead the new structure and continue to perform his duties under PEPFAR.

“Today we are launching a new Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy. Under the leadership of Dr. John Nkengasong, it will provide U.S. leadership on global health security and diplomacy, while retaining our focus on HIV/AIDS through PEPFAR,” announced Sec. Blinken.

In his current role, Dr. Nkengasong leads, manages, and oversees the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

PEPFAR is the largest commitment by any nation to address a single disease in history, prevent millions of HIV infections, save lives, and make progress toward ending the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

A career full of firsts that reverberates a commitment to global healthcare

Dr. Nkengasong has led a very prolific career full of many careers first in global health.

Most notably as the first Director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) headquartered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Through his leadership, a framework for moving Africa CDC into a fully autonomous health agency of the Africa Union was established.

Dr. Nkengasong led efforts to create policy frameworks to guide countries to establish and strengthen their public health institutes and defined and implemented a system to collate national surveillance data.

He also led the COVID-19 response in Africa, coordinating with heads of state and governments across the continent, among other achievements to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Nkengasong also served as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Division of Global HIV and Tuberculosis International Laboratory Branch Chief and as the Associate Director for Laboratory Science, the first person of African descent to hold such coveted positions.

Subsequently, he served as Acting Deputy Director at the CDC Center for Global Health and Co-Chair of the PEPFAR’s Laboratory Technical Working Group.

As a leading virologist with over 30 years of experience in public health, Dr. Nkengasong was also appointed as a board member for the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative in New York, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation, in Norway.

He received his B.Sc. from the Faculty of Science, University of Yaoundé, Cameroon, his M.Sc. from the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium, and his Ph.D. from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Brussels, Belgium.

He also received a Diploma in Leadership and Management from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Dr. Nkengasong is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards and recognitions. Most recently, he served as one of the World Health Organization Director General’s Special Envoys for COVID-19.

In 2021, Dr. Nkengasong was recognized as Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People, and he was described as “a modern-day hero.”

Additional awards include the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Award for Excellence in Public Health Protection Research, the Shepard Award, the U.S. Director’s Recognition Award, and the William Watson Medal of Excellence.

Recently, Dr. Nkengasong was invited to become a member of the National Academy of Medicine, as well as became the first-ever laureate of the Virchow Prize for Global Health, for his dedication to improving the health and well-being of the world’s most vulnerable people.

He has authored or co-authored over 250 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters in professional journals.

The Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy

The US has consolidated its efforts to address global health threats into a single structure, the Bureau of Global Heath Security and Diplomacy, which was recently flagged by the Sec. Blinken, Samantha Power, head of the U.S. Agency for International Development, and Health Secretary Xavier Beccera.

“We’re setting up a new bureau to focus fully on the need to drive both internal and international coordination and accelerate the State Department’s ongoing efforts to strengthen global health security so that the world can respond with immediacy and intention when the next health crisis emerges,” Sec. Blinken told the launch.

Blinked outlined the three main functions of the Bureau i.e., to lead US diplomacy in strengthening the global health security architecture.

The second function is to leverage US foreign assistance to strengthen public health systems, including laboratories and supply chains for vital medical countermeasures.

Finally, Sec. Blinken outlined the third mission of the Bureau was to elevate health security as a core US foreign policy priority through both international diplomatic engagement and health security policymaking across the US government.

Dr. Nkengasong said that some of the Bureau’s immediate priorities were to strengthen the global health security architecture to ensure greater capacity, coordination, and accountability, including through the Pandemic Fund, amending the International Health Regulations, and successfully negotiating a pandemic accord.

“We recognize that the frequency of the health threats has increased because of the greater connectivity, globalization, climate change, population growth, food insecurity, and many others,” the new Bureau Chief noted.

The new Bureau will seamlessly integrate global health security as a core component of U.S. national security and foreign policy, underscoring the Department of State’s commitment to advancing human health worldwide.