Ehanire Applauds Ihekweazu’s Transformational Role at NCDC

By Onyebuchi Ezigbo

The Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, has described the performance of the outgoing Director of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, as highly transformational.

While commending the NCDC Director General for his leadership of the agency in the last five years, Ehanire said the period Ihekweazu held sway at the NCDC witnessed great transformation and global recognition.

In a statement issued on Tuesday by the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Health, Mallam Mamman Mahmuda, the minister said that President Muhammadu Buhari has directed that there should be a smooth transition leading to the handover by Iheakweazu to his successor on November 1.

He said: “Ihekweazu joined NCDC as a nascent institution and has led the agency through a period of remarkable transformation and global recognition.

“Under his leadership, Nigeria’s health security capacity has improved, evidenced by the improved capabilities and resources for infectious disease control. His appointment by WHO is a recognition of his excellence and professionalism and reiterates Nigeria’s contribution to global health.

“Federal Ministry of Health welcomes the appointment of Dr. Ifedayo Morayo Adetifa, as the incoming Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) by His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari. This follows the recent appointment of the current NCDC Director General, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu as Assistant Director General of Health Emergency Intelligence at the World Health Organization (WHO).

“Dr. Ifedayo Adetifa is an Epidemiologist and Consultant Paediatrician who is currently an Associate Professor of Infectious Diseases Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), United Kingdom, and Clinical Epidemiologist at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI)-Wellcome Trust Research Programme (KWTRP) in Kilifi, Kenya.

“He is a graduate of the College of Health Sciences, University of Ilorin, Kwara State, and completed his specialist training in Paediatrics and Child Health at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, Lagos to become a Fellow of the West Africa College of Physicians.

“During residency, he also received training in infectious diseases at the Infectious Diseases Institute, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, and at the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium.”

It said Adetifa’s breadth of experience included an assessment of the impact of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine introduced in Nigeria in 2015, on the application of the vaccine seroepidemiology for estimating population immunity, force of infection and vaccination coverage in African settings, and COVID-19 epidemiology.

According to the statement, Adetifa currently serves on the WHO’s Africa Regional Immunisation Technical Advisory Group, Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme Advisory Group, WHO Technical Advisory Group for Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) Vaccines, and on the Kenyan National Immunisation Coordinating Committee.

Since 2020, he has been a Commissioner for the Lancet Nigeria Commission, and the co-lead of the Commission’s Burden of Diseases Working Group.

“As incoming Director General of NCDC, Dr. Adetifa will carry on the mandate of the agency in leading the prevention, preparedness for, detection of and response to infectious disease outbreaks and public health emergencies in Nigeria,” it added.