Please join us on Wednesday, June 28, 2017, at 2:45 pm for a telephonic press conference with Dr. Rebecca Martin, Director, Center for Global Health, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and speaker at the WHO 1^st Africa Health Forum. Dr Martin will discuss the importance of the WHO 1^st African Health Forum, the role of the new African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Center for Global Health’s commitment to strengthening the global health agenda across the continent.

DETAILS:

Speaker: Director, Center for Global Health and a speaker at WHO 1st Africa Health Forum
Date: June 28, 2017 at 2:45 pm
Place: U.S. Embassy, Entoto Road
Ground rules: On the record
RSVP: To Zelalem Befekadu (091-150-9522) or Yohannes Gezahegn (091-202-1840)
Twitter: We will use the hashtags #AHFLaunch for the call. Follow us on @AfricaMediaHub, @DrMartinCDC and @CDCGlobal ‏

BACKGROUND:

WHO’s Regional Office for Africa (AFRO) is convening the first ever Africa Health Forum in Kigali, Rwanda on 27 – 28 June 2017 to highlight the importance of addressing the opportunities and challenges for effective health service delivery and policy priorities. Under the theme of “Putting People First: The Road to Universal Health Coverage in Africa”, the two-day event will deliberate on improving health security, progress towards equity and Universal Health Coverage (UHC). The unfinished agenda of communicable diseases while exploring the new Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets, and tackling social and economic determinants of health on the continent.

The Africa Health Forum is a unique opportunity to strengthen collaboration between WHO and its stakeholders on Africa’s health agenda. Specifically, it will facilitate engagement with all partners to kick start exciting new partnerships for improving the health of our people.

BIO:

Dr Rebecca Martin, Director, Centers for Global Health

Rebecca Martin, PhD, is the Director of the Center for Global Health (CGH) at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Dr Martin has worked both domestically and internationally in immunization, HIV, and health system strengthening and now leads CDC’s global efforts to protect and improve health globally through science, policy partnership, and evidence-based public health action.

Dr. Martin has over 18 years of experience working in international health. Since 1991, Dr. Martin has worked in the global health arena and has had CDC assignments in Kenya, Tanzania, and Denmark (2002-2011). She was detailed to the WHO African Regional Office from 2002-2006, based in Kenya as a senior epidemiologist in the inter-country immunization program office for eight east African countries. From 2006-2008, Dr. Martin served as Program Director for Strategic Information and Human Resources for Health with the CDC Country Office in Tanzania. She led and implemented studies, in partnership with the ministry of health, to measure and evaluate the HIV/AIDS epidemic and strengthen national capacity to respond.

Most recently from 2012 to 2016, Dr. Martin served as the Director of the CGH Global Immunization Division, which leads CDC’s global polio eradication efforts, accelerated disease control for vaccine-preventable diseases, introduction of new and underutilized vaccines, and the strengthening of immunization systems. Dr. Martin received her Doctorate of Philosophy from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in international health with a focus in infectious disease epidemiology.