US Global Aids Coordinator, Dr John Nkengasong, on working visit in Cameroon.

The US Ambassador-at-large and Senior Bureau Official for Global Health Security and Diplomacy, is on a visit to the country of his ancestors within the framework of leading the US government’s efforts to strengthen global health security.

The two-day working visit will end tomorrow with several activities on his agenda. 

Ambassador Nkengasong is said to be the highest US government official to visit Cameroon since the then US Deputy Secretary of State in charge of African Affairs, Tibor Nagy, visited Cameroon in 2019.

The US Ambassador-at-large will commence his stay in Cameroon, with a visit to the Emergency Operations Centre where he will give a discourse on the 20^th anniversary of the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, PEPFAR, programme in Cameroon.

Later today, he will be at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Yaounde I for a conference on the theme: “Ending HIV/AIDS by 2030. Young people matter”. 

At the University of Yaounde I, Dr John Nkengasong is expected to give a lecture and lead discussions with students, professors and participants on the eradication of HIV/AIDS by 2030 and the role of young people in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Ambassador Dr Nkengasong will tomorrow visit the National Public Health Laboratory at Messa. 

Born in Cameroon, Dr Nkengasong, who earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Yaounde I, is the first person of African origin to hold this position.  
Dr Nkengasong, confirmed as the US Global AIDS Coordinator by the US Senate on May 5, 2022, was officially sworn in on June 13, 2022. 

On August 1, 2023, Ambassador Dr Nkengasong joined US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, to launch the State Department’s Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy, GHSD.

GHSD serves as the Department’s coordinating body for work on strengthening global health security to prevent, detect and respond to infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS; as well as elevates and integrates global health security as a core component of US national security and foreign policy. 

As its Senior Bureau Official, Ambassador Dr Nkengasong leads US diplomatic engagement, leverages and helps coordinate US foreign assistance and promotes international cooperation at the national, regional and multilateral levels to better protect the United States and the world from health threats.

GHSD is now home to the PEPFAR, 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 as a global health threat, which the Ambassador leads.

It is worth noting that in 2017, Dr Nkengasong was appointed 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 full autonomous health agency of the Africa Union was established. 

He also 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. He helped secure 400 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines at the height of vaccine scarcity. During his tenure, he was appointed as one of the World Health Organisation’s special envoys on COVID-19 preparedness and response.