Africa CDC head 'honored' by Biden's intent for PEPFAR nomination

United States President Joe Biden made official his intent to nominate Dr. John Nkengasong, the head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention to lead the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief Monday. This follows news reports last week that the nomination was expected.

Nkengasong is the founding director of the Africa CDC, which launched in 2017. The agency, which is part of the African Union, rose to prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic as the coordinating body of the continental response, working with countries to secure tests, boost laboratory capacity, manage outbreaks, and access vaccines.

On Tuesday, Nkengasong spoke with Devex about the intended nomination, saying he is “truly honored and humbled to have been selected.”

“I thank the Biden-Harris administration for having the confidence in their intent to nominate me,” he said.

The nomination still needs confirmation by the U.S. Congress, he added, as it's a cabinet position.

“We are taking it one step at a time,” he said.

PEPFAR is a $7 billion program that is the largest single-nation commitment to fight a single disease in history. Since its inception in 2003, the U.S. has invested over $85 billion in the global HIV/AIDS response.

Nkgengasong has over 30 years of experience in working on HIV/AIDS. This included building up one of the most sophisticated laboratories for HIV in sub-Saharan Africa in Côte d'Ivoire while working at the field station of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the mid-1990s.

Before heading the Africa CDC, Nkengasong was one of the founding leaders of PEPFAR. While there, he worked to strengthen laboratory capacity across Africa. His program was the largest and most funded program within the U.S. CDC’s HIV division.

“There is something to be said about [the] experience you can bring to the table. HIV/AIDS is still a pandemic. There is no doubt. At the end of this year, I’m sure that many more people will have died in Africa because of HIV/Aids than COVID-19. COVID-19 is very disruptive, but HIV/AIDs is a silent killer,” he said.

Nkengasong said that PEPFAR has been a “game-changer” for the HIV pandemic in Africa. If confirmed, he will be the first person from the African continent to lead the program.

Global health experts are applauding the choice, given the award-winning leadership Nkengasong has shown in boosting public health security in Africa.

“Dr. Nkengsong has provided outstanding leadership to the African continent during this pandemic and made the African CDC a pivotal institution within the AU,” John Mwangi, co-chair of the Africa Regulatory Network, wrote in an email to Devex. “He leaves a great legacy. … and many within the HIV community will be applauding his appointment as someone with a significant understanding of community needs and someone who can get things done.”

In the wake of a potential departure from Africa CDC, Nkengasong said that the agency is fortified to take forward its work in his absence.

“Africa CDC, I’m very proud to say, has a very strong leadership team,” Nkengasong said. “I was always conscious of that. Even if I stayed for my two terms, I would still need to leave, which means I was very deliberate in that there is a whole layer of leaders that emerged to carry the organization forward.”