Dr. Ifeanyi McWilliams Nsofor’s CV

About

Ifeanyi is the Senior Vice President for Africa at Human Health Education and Research Foundation. A global health thought leader with more than 97 opinion pieces written (35 specifically on COVID-19). Interviewed by top news outlets such as BBC, Al Jazeera, Forbes. A leading voice in global health equity, health security, universal health coverage and health research. For more than 22 years since graduating as a medical doctor, have worked in government, international non-profit organizations, indigenous non-profit health organizations and the private health sector. Involved in launching two successful health start-ups (Nigeria health Watch and EpiAFRIC. A Senior New Voices Fellow at the Aspen Institute, Senior Atlantic Fellow for Health Equity at George Washington University and an Innovation Fellow at PandemicTech. A COVID-19 Top 100 healthcare professional globally in 2020 by Onalytica. Top 100 most influential Africans of 2020 by NewAfrican magazine. Two-time TEDx Speaker. Member New Voices Fellowship Expert panel at the Aspen Institute. A leading digital health expert across Africa. Have led the conceptualisation and implementation of 7 hackathons in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa.

Skills

Awards and Recognitions

Experience

November 2021 – PRESENT 

Senior Vice President for Africa, Human Health Education and Research Foundation 

• Leading HHERF interventions in Africa in 8 areas which impact human health. These are: poverty, food, healthcare, education/knowledge, environment, energy, economy, and industry.
• Currently leading the conceptualisation, design and implementation of a project in Abuja, Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates, to improve knowledge of underserved communities in using locally available foods to improve health of women and children.

September 2021 – PRESENT 

Consultant, Upswell

• Supporting increasing COVID-19 vaccine uptake among health care providers in Nigeria, using Facebook and Instagram.

September 2021 – PRESENT 

Consultant, Centre for Health Ethics, Law and Development (CHELD)

• Facilitating training of African Union Member States Officials on health and migration. Includes developing a manual.

September 2016 – PRESENT 

Chief Executive Officer, EpiAFRIC 

• Leading “Health Meets Tech” Initiative across Africa – bringing health and tech experts to develop tech solutions to improve health across Africa. Conceptualized and led five hackathons in Lagos, Abuja, Nairobi and Johannesburg
• Served as a Judge at the COVID-19 Global Hackathon 1.0. More than 18,000 innovators from 175 countries created 1,560 projects to #BuildForCOVID19
• Led the documentation of FHI360 primary health care, water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) project in Borno State, Northeast Nigeria
• Led a survey to learn the willingness of men to use reversible male contraceptives if they were available in Nigeria’s 2 largest cities (Lagos and Kano) and Nigeria’s federal capital territory (Abuja)
• Supported a State Health Insurance Agency in Nigeria to develop a communications strategy
• Leading a survey to document Nigeria’s epidemic preparedness and response to COVID-19
• Leading documentation, marketing/branding and 5-year strategic plan development for one of the leading Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights organisations in Nigeria

Januay 2021 – PRESENT 

Member New Voices Expert Panel, Aspen Global Innovators Group, Aspen Institute,  Washington DC  

• Give high-level strategic and consultative input on the Fellowship’s values and objectives and then help staff track progress toward achieving them.
• Collectively write a written evaluation report of the Fellowship at the end of the year that will be submitted to funders, as well as a shorter mid-year evaluation report to the NVF leadership team.
• Give NVF staff strategic input on other important decisions for the Fellowship as they arise during the Term. That includes the Fellowship’s 5-year strategic plan in early 2021.
• Help publicize the Fellowship with approved materials and help recruit and attract strong nominations during the application process each year.
• Give constructive input on the top-tier pool of NVF applicants under consideration for the next Fellowship year (with the option to give input earlier on in the process, if desired).
• Engage with New Voices Fellows and Senior Fellows within each of their regions in meaningful ways, be that through one-on-one check-ins, group Zoom discussions, and/or in-person events if and as permitted by the Institute during COVID-19. 

September 2016 – PRESENT  

Director of Policy and Advocacy, Nigeria Health Watch 

• Led the #PreventEpidemicsNaija project which contributed to the government of Nigeria increasing the budget of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control by 75% in 2021
• Led the research and documentation to for the #GivingBirthInNigeria project – a project that documented why women die during pregnancy, childbirths and afterwards in 7 Nigerian states. Positive outcomes included ensuring maternal deaths in communities are counted. Production of “Why are women dying while giving birth in Nigeria report”
• Coached and mentored 6 team members on health advocacy
• Led the #healthEquity4FCTIndigenes project which inspired the provision of boreholes and drugs for prevention of tropical diseases in poor indigenous Abuja communities

MAY 2014 – AUGUST 2016 

Director of Consulting Services, EpiAFRIC 

• Trained 30 Chief Medical Directors of public and private hospitals in Lagos, Nigeria on population health and healthcare leadership
• Led a scoping research in Ghana and Nigeria to examine the feasibility of rolling out or supporting the roll out of a community-based health insurance scheme for Christian Aid UK in Nigeria
• Led the evaluation of the African Union Support to Ebola in West Africa (ASEOWA) in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone
• Led the evaluation of the SURE-P maternal and child health project across 6 states in Nigeria
• Led the evaluation of Christina Aid UK’s HIV/AIDS project in Nigeria and their project on primary health care, water and sanitation

 July 2012 – April 2014

Senior Programme Officer (community Health Initiatives), TY Danjuma Foundation, Abuja, Nigeria 

• Led the Foundation’s grant making in community health and also provided managerial oversight for grant making in education and income generation thematic areas. Managed grants of more than $1 million yearly
• Developed new partnerships between the Foundation and local/international NGOs, bilateral/multilateral development agencies and various levels of government
• Developed monitoring forms and checklists for use during visits to grantee project sites. These forms assisted in analysing findings and giving feedback to grantees to improve project performance
• Led the development of annual action plans for my unit and participated in doing same for the organisation
• Led the process of developing the 2014-2018 organisational strategic plan – engaged with grantees, staff, beneficiaries and Board of Trustees of the Foundation to optimise grant acquisition and deployment

JANUARY 2012 – JUNE 2012 

Senior Programme Officer, Maternal & Newborn Health & Nutrition, Micronutrient Initiative, Abuja (Now Nutrition International) 

• Managed the organisation’s support to the Nigerian government on iron and folic acid supplements for pregnant women
• Analysed various evaluation reports on the state of the Nigerian women and used findings to advise the Nigerian government and other partners on best ways of improving iron and folic acid supplementation for pregnant women
• Regularly interfaced with sub-grantees and gained practical experience in team and relationship building across development partners

MARCH 2012 – APRIL 2012 

Consultant for Desktop Review of Community Component of Global Fund HIV and AIDS Program in Nigeria, NACA 

• Provided evidence of performance, achievements, challenges and lessons learnt in implementing the Global fund behaviour change communication, care and support of people living with HIV/AIDS components of the grant in Nigeria since the implementation of Global Fund Round 5
• Demonstrated the contributions of community level interventions in reduction of burden of HIV
• Outlined key recommendations on strategies/approaches for the next phase of the grant

MAY 2010 – JANUARY 2012 

Programme Officer, Community Health Initiatives, TY Danjuma Foundation, Abuja 

• Managed projects of eleven grantees with annual funding of $2.3 million. The grantees interventions included maternal/child health interventions, water/sanitation, free medical missions, sexual and reproductive health
• Managed large/multiple grants simultaneously and assessing the quality of health interventions
• Conducted rigorous due diligence and analysis of grant proposals to assesses the strength of the project, the grant applicant, and the financials of the applicant
• Successfully organised the first-ever roundtable in Nigeria that focused on, “assessing the impact of free medical missions”

SEPTEMBER 2008 – JANUARY 2012 

Research Client to the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine 

• Successfully established a research relationship with my alma mater, the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM), United Kingdom
• The school sent postgraduate students annually to undertake collaborative research. This was geared towards entrenching evidence-based thinking in public health programming in Nigeria while providing data for the students’ theses
• Provided mentorship to Masters in International Public Health Students coming to Nigeria for their overseas research experience
• Mentored 3 students who researched on Neglected Tropical Diseases, Family planning and Post-Partum Haemorrhage

MARCH 2008 – MAY 2010  

Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Continuum of Care – Prevention of Post Partum Haemorrhage Project (CC-PPH), Pathfinder      International, Nigeria Country Office, Abuja 

• Trained health workers on Active Management of the Third Stage of Labor, use of the Non-pneumatic Anti-Shock Garment (NASG) for management of postpartum haemorrhage (PPH), blood loss estimation using blood drape and magnesium sulphate for the management of eclampsia
• Developed a case study form which led to development of a database for all clinical data from the project’s 60 health facilities in 6 states, containing data on outcomes in more than 100,000 women resulting in a very useful tool for quickly analysing the information and making useful inferences
• Summarized, analysed and interpreted data collected from partners, project and field offices for monitoring project activities

NOVEMBER 2007 – MARCH 2008: 

Volunteer, Systematic Review on Knowledge Translation in the systematic review with the following objectives;  

• Volunteer work with the International Health Group of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine participating
• Define knowledge translation;
• Identify how knowledge translation is conceptualized;
• Identify stakeholders’ perception of knowledge translation and;
• Identify the barriers to and facilitators of knowledge translation.

JULY 2007 – SEPTEMBER 2007  

Overseas qualitative research/budget analysis in Zambia, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine  

• Evaluated the financing of antiretroviral drugs scale-up in Zambia
• This 8-week research provided a platform to gain practical experience and skills in research protocol development, conduct of interviews, transcribing of interviews, coding of transcribed interviews and data analysis in qualitative research
• Learnt the use of a qualitative research transcribing software, MAXQDA
• The research included budget analysis and viewed the subject matter along equity scales; Chama district (most disadvantaged) and Lusaka district (most advantaged)

MARCH 2006 – JUNE 2006 

Short-term Consultant, Epidemiological Survey of Enugu state, southeast, Nigeria Hanovia Medical Ltd. (Health Management Consultants) 

• Participated in the development of forms/checklists used by field officers in data collection and collation
• Assessed the health status of the Enugu state, southeast Nigeria with focus on priority communicable diseases of public health importance
• Analysed the pattern of these priority diseases over a period of three years (2003 – 2005)
• Analysed the status of the State Disease Surveillance and Notification and the Emergency Preparedness and Response to Disasters and Disease Epidemics

SEPTEMBER 2002 – DECEMBER 2006  

Principal Technical Officer, National Programme on Immunization, Abuja 

• Travelled extensively around Nigeria training immunization service providers, supervising and monitoring the conduct of routine and supplemental immunization campaigns especially the global polio eradication initiative
• Participated in the development of various forms/checklists for use in monitoring immunization service delivery
• Summarized state reports and data such as the 40 notifiable diseases and gave feedback to NPI zonal offices for use when they visit States for monitoring and supportive supervision

JANUARY 2002 – SEPTEMBER 2002  

Personal Assistant to the National Coordinator/Chief Executive National Programme on Immunization, Area 11, Abuja, Nigeria 

• Key person that coordinated all administrative and some technical information as regards immunization service delivery in the country.

AUGUST 2000 – JULY 2001  

Medical Officer (National Youth Service Corps) Guards Brigade Medical Centre, Mambila Barracks, Nigerian Army, Abuja  

• Coordinated general patient care and management, antenatal clinics, immunization, laboratory and pharmaceuticals.  

MARCH 1999 – DECEMBER 1999 

Medical Officer, The Children’s Hospital, Nnewi, Anambra State  

• Involved in daily consultations in the out-patient pediatric specialist clinic; admitted and stabilized patients and oversaw bedside laboratory investigations.

JUNE 1999 – MAY 2000  

House Officer (Intern) Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi, Anambra State, southeast Nigeria  

• Participated in Clinical rotations in pediatrics and internal medicine, surgery and obstetrics and gynecology under the tutelage of various consultants. 

Researches Published

1. Faust L, Zimmer A, Kohli M, Saha S, Boffa J, Bayot M, Nsofor I, et al. SARS-CoV-2 testing in low- and middle-income countries: availability and affordability in the private health sector. Microbes and Infection, 22(10): 511-4.
2. Mezue K, Edwards P, Nsofor I, et al. Sub-Saharan Africa Tackles COVID-19: Challenges and Opportunities. Ethnicity & Disease, 30(4): 693-4.
3. Oyebanji O, Ofonagoro U, Akande O, Nsofor, I et al. Lay media reporting of monkeypox in Nigeria. BMJ Global Health, 4(6): p.e002019.
4. Aruna O, Oyediran K and Nsofor I. 2019. Tuberculosis in Nigeria: Rapid Assessment of Infectious Disease Surveillance and Reporting — MEASURE Evaluation. [online] Measureevaluation.org. Available at: https://www.measureevaluation.org/resources/publications/tr-18-292/ .
5. Xie Z, Nsofor I, Tolhurst R. [Evaluation on implementation of the African programme for onchocerciasis control in Nigeria]. Beijing Da Xue Xue Bao Yi Xue Ban. 2012 Jun 18; 44(3):403-6. Chinese. PMID: 22692311.

Lectures Delivered