Launching the Kofi Annan Global Health Leadership Programme

Abstract

On May 25, 2020, as part of the commemorations for Africa Day, the African Union Commission launched the Kofi Annan Global Health Leadership Programme, as a flagship undertaking of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 1 Why would the African Union Commission honour Mr Annan with such a programme? The remarks of Prof Peter Piot, the director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, about Kofi Annan when he died in 2018, captured the essence of why such a programme would be named after him. 2 Prof Piot stated, “The world is remembering an iconic global statesman, but besides his tireless efforts for peace and justice, he was also one of the greatest global health leaders of our time”. 2 In naming the programme, the African Union Commission considered many achievements in global health that Mr Annan led that had a direct impact in Africa. First, his contribution to the creation of The Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (The Global Fund) was remarkable. In fact, in April, 2001, standing in front of heads of state and government at the African Summit on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and other Infectious Diseases in Abuja, Nigeria, Mr Annan proposed the creation of The Global Fund. 3 He stated “This is a conference about Africa's future” and “AIDS has become not only the primary cause of death on this continent, but our biggest development challenge. And that is why I have made the battle against it my personal priority”. 3 He was one of the first people to donate his own money into The Global Fund. As of April, 2020, The Global Fund had disbursed about US$44·9 billion since it was established 4 and saved more than 32 million lives. 5 Second, under his leadership, in 2000, the UN Security Council adopted resolution 1308, the first resolution ever to identify AIDS as a threat to global security. 6 Third, in 2001, also under his leadership, the UN General Assembly held a special session on HIV/AIDS—the first-ever meeting of world leaders on a health issue at the UN. 7 In each of these occurrences, the elevation of public health into the global spotlight was as a result of Mr Annan's leadership skills that combined his aptitude of linking scientific evidence, persuasion, and a political spur for action. He understood that public health was intimately linked to politics, policy, and diplomacy. In establishing the Kofi Annan Global Health Leadership Programme, the African Union Commission recognised that although Mr Annan was faithful to his African origins, he was also a global citizen with a keen appreciation for the details of geopolitics. As such, the word “Global” is an imperative component of the programme. The Global Fund is today a true example of an expression of global solidarity. The era of COVID-19 calls for global solidarity, similar to that expressed by The Global Fund. Mr Annan would have called for increased cooperation, collaboration, and coordination to find global solutions to address the current crisis. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has shaken our ability to unite and has highlighted contemporary realities of the complex interplay of globalisation, health security, protectionism, and health diplomacy. The multidimensional nature of disease threats the world is facing in the 21st century will require African public health experts to be equipped with adequate leadership skills that will allow them play a crucial role in the global health arena. As such, the “Leadership” associated with the Kofi Annan Global Health Leadership Programme is of importance. Exercising leadership is a valued attribute in advancing the global public health agenda in the same manner as Mr Annan. In 2018, he wrote in Nature, commenting on a geospatial analysis of malnutrition in Africa, “Without good data, we're flying blind. If you can't see it, you can't solve it”. 8 Thus, he valued data and evidence for informed decision making. This attribute fully aligns with the mission of Africa CDC, which is to strengthen the capacity, capability, and partnerships of Africa's public health institutions to detect and respond quickly and effectively to disease threats and outbreaks based on science, policy, and data-driven interventions and programmes. The Kofi Annan Global Health Leadership Programme will have three components. (1) A Fellowship in Public Health Leadership Programme, in which fellows in this programme will acquire the following competencies: superior skills in negotiation and influence multidimensional health goals in health diplomacy, given the unique location of the Africa CDC with the African Union Commission; improved ability to develop bold strategic vision for ambitious yet attainable goals; and enhancing personal and professional global networks. (2) A Public Health Scholars Programme, which will support the placement of experienced public health experts within National Public Health Institutes and Ministries of Health to guide strategic leadership and management on critical health challenges, such as global health security and universal health coverage. And (3) A Virtual Leadership Academy, which will be the continent's leading virtual thought leadership platform—a think tank—for discussing public health challenges. As we grapple with the COVID-19 crisis, we believe that Mr Annan would have valued seeing Africa play a central role as part of the global efforts to seek a solution to end the pandemic. He would have certainly called for a Global Fund-like model to solve the COVID-19 crisis, and such a model would help address several aspects, including access to diagnosis, vaccines, therapy, social harm, human rights, and economy. To achieve this ambition will require that the African Union Commission and Africa CDC identify young Africans, bring them together, and give them the skills for global collaboration, cooperation, coordination, and communication needed to navigate the areas of international political economy and health security. We believe that it is only through such a leadership programme that Mr Annan's dreams would be fulfilled when he stated “It is my aspiration that health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as human right to be fought for.” 9