03.29.21

Speakers & Registration


Below is the detailed schedule for all 5 days with the bios for all speakers

To register, please click on the large black bar for each day.

Day 1 - Mon, Mar 29th

Opening Ceremony & Keynote

Register for Keynote Event

We will begin the weeklong conference with an opening ceremony. The Faces of Africa 2021 Conference will introduced by African Public Health Network President -  Dr. Ukeme Essien.
The event will be facilitated by Kene Ezeigwe, the VP of Events for African Public Health Network in collaboration with the Sudanese Student Union.

The Keynote speaker for the event is Our Keynote speaker is Her Excellency Amira Elfadil Mohammed Elfadil, Commissioner for Social Affairs, African Union and former Sudanese Minister of Welfare and Social Security, and former member of parliament.
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How I Got Here

This session will feature phenomenal women involved in Africa and the Diaspora, who will be sharing their personal and professional journey to their respective areas of power. They will talk about how they made it to where they are despite the different challenges and odds against them. During this session, we shall discuss how many have defied these odds and challenges and what we can learn and use public health to advocate for many trapped in this cycle of events.
This event will be facilitated by  Dr. Kemish Kenneth - VP of Operations at African Public Health Network.

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Register for How I Got Here Event

Dr. Nicole Fouda Mbarga, MD, MPH, PhDc

Dr. Nicole Fouda Mbarga, is an Epidemiologist, Focal point for cholera control at the World Health Organization (WHO), Cameroon, the President and Founder, Women In Global Health Cameroon, an Afyabora fellow, a Fellow of the Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI), and a Mentor at Higher Women Consortium/ Health and Human Development Network (H2DN).

Esther Soma

Esther Soma is Program Specialist, Women Peace and Security at UN Women, South Sudan. In her role, she supports South Sudanese women in the implementation of the signed peace agreement. Through providing technical expertise to the women’s networks, facilitating review workshops on key reforms and constantly engaging with the institutions of the agreement, Esther ensures that UN Women is providing support to South Sudanese women and women’s organizations in their search for peace. Esther is the researcher and author of the report “Our Search for peace: Women in South Sudan’s National peace processes 2005-2018” published by Oxfam and UN Women in January 2020. This report celebrates South Sudanese women’s contributions and achievements in the search for a peaceful country. Esther graduated from Yale University, U.S.A with a Bachelor of Arts in Global Affairs (2016) and attended the African Leadership Academy in Johannesburg South Africa. Esther has a keen interest in peace-building, gender equality, youth-empowerment, conflict resolution, governance, leadership and human rights.

Dr. Pauline Jolly

Dr. Pauline Jolly is a Professor Emerita in the Department of Epidemiology and Director of the UAB Minority Health International Research Training (MHIRT) Program. Dr. Jolly holds PhD degrees in Immunology and Infectious Diseases and in Science Education (curriculum and instruction) from Johns Hopkins and Louisiana State Universities, respectively.  She also has a Master of Science degree in Biology (Parasitology) from Tuskegee University, and a Master of Public Health degree from Johns Hopkins University. She has conducted laboratory research on the immunopathogenesis of HIV and other lentiviruses, especially in the area of immune responses to infection.
She also conducts epidemiological and behavioral research on HIV/AIDS/STI and other infectious and chronic diseases in countries of Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. Since 2002, Dr. Jolly has been conducting research on aflatoxin ingestion and health impacts in the Ashanti Region of Ghana in collaboration with investigators at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi.

Dr. Jolly has received numerous academic and leadership awards including, the Distinguished Educator Award from the Birmingham Chapter of the United Nations Association for her scholarship and training in international public health, the UAB President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching for the School of Public Health in 2007, the UAB Graduate School Dean’s Award for Excellence in Mentorship in 2010 and the esteemed Ellen Gregg Ingalls/UAB National Alumni Society Award for Lifetime Achievement in Teaching. In 2018, Dr Joly served as a Fulbright Specialist Scholar at the Instiutute of Public Health in Ho Chio Minh City, Vietnam where she taught Epidemiology Study Desgins, Grant Writing and Paper Preparation and Publication.

Day 2 - Tue, Mar 30th

Register for Day 2


Future of the Girl Child Panel

In recent times there have been multiple abductions of young girls, and are still struggling with the child brides and the consequences of that. There is also still a large disparities in access to education for girls. How can we create a brighter future for African girls? We hope to have a discourse on this topic and illuminate problems, potential solutions and initiatives currently in place. Our aim is to inform the audience through this discourse and provide tools and resources to become advocates for the African girl-child.

This event will be facilitated by  Dr. Ukeme Essien, President of African Public Health Network

Dr. Uduak Okomo

Dr Okomo is aClinical Assistant Professor with the Vaccines and Immunity Theme, MRC Unit TheGambia at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and A paediatrician and epidemiologist by training, the focus of her early research work has been on child survival in Africa, including severe malnutrition and paediatric HIV/AIDS, malaria, and pneumonia. In recent years she has had a strong focus on maternal and neonatal health particularly better measurement and reduction in the burden of maternal and newborn mortality in developing countries. Her work includes studies on the aetiology and management of serious infections, infection transmission dynamics in the community and hospital settings, infection control, antimicrobial resistance, and stillbirths. She is also interested in implementation research and the use of routine healthcare data to improve the quality of facility-based care. Her objective is to improve maternal, newborn and child health in sub-SaharanAfrica through engagement in research aimed at informing national and international health policy.

Lusungu Kalanga

Ms Lusungu Kalanga is a Malawian feminist and activist. She is a Co-founder of Growing Ambitions, an organization focused on creating safe spaces for girls and young women to thrive through mentorship and peer learning. Lusungu is also  is a Co-creator of the Feministing While Malawian podcast that explores all issues Malawian from a feminist perspective and a Co-Curator of Feministing While Africa, an online safe space for African feminists.
She also currently works with Tithetse Nkhanza programme, a FCDO (formerly DFID) funded VAWG (Violence Against Women & Girls) Prevention and Response Programme as the VAWG Prevention Lead.
Ms. Kalanga holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Malawi, Chancellor College and Master’s degree in Development Studies from the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex. She was recognised as one of the outstanding Young Women Leaders by the Moremi initiative and is a Mandela Washington Fellow and one of the 2019 Obama Foundation leaders

Ulemu Hannah Kanyongolo

Ulemu Hannah Kanyongolo is a feminist activist who recently completed her LLB (Hons) studies at the University of Malawi. She is passionate about human rights, with a particular focus on women’s rights. Through her work, she seeks to contribute to a stronger, more coherent and inclusive women’s rights movement in Malawi. From 2016-2018, she was chairperson of the Gender Justice Clinic at the University of Malawi. In 2018, she was one of the recipients of UN Women Malawi’s young emerging activist award. That same year, Ulemu founded the Young Feminists Network. She is currently a member of Amnesty International’s Global Strategy Youth Task Force, and is a board member of PEPETA Malawi..

Dr. Mfon Umoren

Dr Mfon Umoren is an alumni of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg school of Public Health, where she graduated in 2015. Though she misses Baltimore and that one trinidadian restaurant, she now calls the Midwest home. She currently works as a pediatrician in the Bone Marrow Transplant Department of Cincinnati Children's Hospital and Medical Center. She is a fairweather runner (no winters, please), and an aspiring writer who is passionate about improving health literacy in Africa. She is also the host of 'The Storytime Clinic', a podcast focused on children's books about chronic health conditions



Disease Presentation Event

This session will focus on the disproportionate impact of major diseases on African women. Our guest speaker will be Dr. Taha E. Taha who will be presenting on “COVID-19, EVD and HIV: Impact on African Women and Families” This event will be facilitated by Dr. Bolanle Akinyele, Alumni Relations Coordinator at African Public Health Network

Dr. Taha El Tahir Taha MBBS MCM MPH PhD

Dr. Taha is Professor of Epidemiology and Population, Family and Reproductive Health at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Dr. Taha is a physician with extensive experience in infectious diseases and was previously the Co-Director of the Infectious Disease Program in the Department of Epidemiology at the JHSPH.
His research focus has been prevention of HIV transmission from Mother to child through breast feeding and HIV transmission and prevention in adults. He has been the Principal Investigator of the NIH-funded HIV research and development of capacity in Malawi since 1992 and to this date.

Day 3 - Wed, Mar 31st

Register for Day 3

Sexual and Reproductive Rights Panel

The Fireside Chat on Sexual and Reproductive Rights is an informal discussion sharing personal experiences and expertise from our panelists. Discussion topics will include child marriage, teenage pregnancies, and involving men in the work.  This event will be facilitated by  Jonta Kamara, Social Media Lead at  African Public Health Network. In collaboration with the Public Health Students for Reproductive Justice.

Khudejha Asghar

Khudejha Asghar has 10 years of experience working in research and practice with historically oppressed populations in the U.S. and globally. She uses an intersectional feminist lens in research and programming to prevent and respond to gender-based violence in humanitarian emergencies and previously managed a mixed-methods randomized controlled trial evaluation of an adolescent girls’ empowerment and violence prevention program in Ethiopia, DRC, and Pakistan at Columbia University; led formative research and program development on preventing family violence in DRC and Myanmar at the International Rescue Committee; conducted qualitative participatory research on drivers of household violence in Colombia in collaboration with UNICEF and Universidad de los Andes; and worked with Universidad de los Andes, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Together for Girls, to test face validity of the Violence Against Children Surveys in Colombia. She is proud to be the daughter of a Partition survivor and global migrant, the sister of a brilliant queer femme, the product of love and support from chosen family, and a co-conspirator in creating world that values all human beings equally.

Dr. Caroline Kabiru

Dr. Caroline Kabiru leads the Population Dynamics and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Unit at the African Population and Health Research Center—a Pan-African research institution and think tank that generates evidence to drive policy action to improve the health and wellbeing of African people. Caroline, who has a PhD in Health Promotion and Behavior from the University of Georgia, has over 15 years of experience conducting research in sub-Saharan Africa. Much of her research focuses on young people’s health and well-being in low-resource and marginalized urban settings and covers topics ranging from sexual and reproductive health to mental health. Caroline also has a keen interest in research capacity strengthening and between 2008 and 2017 managed the African Doctoral Dissertation Research Fellowship program, which has supported over 200 PhD students from across sub-Saharan Africa.

Dr. Ellen B. Peprah

Dr. Ellen B Peprah is a medical doctor working in Ghana with special interests in Population, Gender, Health and its interlinkages. She won the World Bank Blog4Dev 2020 competition for Ghana for her ideas on " How to end child marriage in Ghana" and led an Adolescent Sexual And Reproductive Health Advocacy project that earned her the Millennium Fellowship in 2019.She is currently the Youth Voices Coordinator of Youth Transforming Africa, a network of young people from 32 African countries, promoting the initiatives of young Africans and making sure that their voices stay relevant in the issues that affect them.

Day 4 - Thurs, Apr 1st

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Fireside Chat - #ShutItDown in Namibia

ShutItAllDown is a wave of ongoing Gender Based Violence protests across  aimed at stopping the spread of rape and killing of women. The protests which began on 6 October followed the killing of 22 year old Shannon Wasserfall whose remains were reportedly found buried in a shallow grave near , 6 months after she went missing. This event will be facilitated by Dr. Ukeme Essien, President of African Public Health Network.

Bertha Tobias

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Bertha Tobias is a 20 year old International Relations and Leadership Studies student. She currently serves as Namibia's Youth Charter Country Representative for the Office of the African Union Youth Envoy. A fellow of the Apolitical Academy, she has served at the frontlines of #ShutItAllDown, a Namibian national protest movement against sexual violence with an estimated combined social and non-social reach of 11 million. She is an Allan Gray beneficiary who has served as a consultant for United World College International Office, developing material and facilitating Diversity, Equity and Inclusion training. Having been selected to deliver a TEDx talk, she is a dynamic young leader who continuously demonstrates impeccable competence and an ability to think critically and creatively. Her labour of love is serving as #BeFree ambassador in the Office of the First Lady of the Republic of Namibia. Her youth professional development programme has also been awarded the Go Make A Difference grant.


Advocacy Workshop

What does advocacy in public health look like? How to campaign for issues in Africa? Especially issues in affecting women in Africa. What are practical steps in approaching advocacy outside the continent? What are some useful platforms and tools? How can we advocate for policy change from anywhere in the world? And how do we galvanize support for these issues? These are all questions we hope to get answered. This event will be facilitated by Dr. Anushruti Gupta Event coordinator African Public Health Network and Dr. Ukeme Essien, President of African Public Health Network. In collaboration with the JB Grant Society and the AntiRacist Coalition.

Judicaelle Irakoze

Judicaelle Irakoze is a feminist activist, passionate with articulating the experiences of women and overall, the  youth. She is a community organizer and social entrepreneur with a record of advocating for children, women’s rights and overall human rights. She has worked on different issues ranging from youth development, refugee integration, feminist organizing, community mobilizing, lobbying and advocacy  She is the 2019 European Commission Young leader on Migration, the G20 young global Changer on Gender Equality, a delegate at the International Congress of Youth voices, a published author, a contributor writer at African Feminisms, and has done multiple consultancy. She currently works for multilateral Organizations.

 Judicaelle has worked on different research projects, from documenting, organizing case studies, evaluating, monitoring and baseline recommendations mostly offering disruptive community led change. She works as facilitator, engaged in critical analysis and the collective organizing part of different movements. She is known for her online presence, educating on issues centering feminisms, African politics, and more. She is a grassroots organizer who believes in community led movements.

Chinenye Uwanaka

Chinenye Uwanaka is a Lawyer and Social Entrepreneur. She is the Founder and Managing Partner of The Firma Advisory - a boutique law and Consulting Firm in Nigeria with clients in Africa, Middle east, Europe and America. She is passionate about Energy Law, Intellectual Property, Technology Law and Policy.
Chinenye is also the CEO of other subsidiaries such as; The Firma Foods (poultry and snail farms) and The Firma Energy, which is a start-up focussed on Gas, Renewable Energy and Mining.
She is the Thematic Lead for Innovation and Intellectual Property for the National Assembly Business Environment Roundtable (NASSBER), a collaboration between the Legislative and Executive arms of Government in Nigeria under Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG).
She is a Harvard trained Policy Implementation Expert and the Co-founder of Africa Policy Conversations Initiative- which is a Pan – African group of intellectual professionals from various sectors with a goal to revolutionize policies that will serve not only Nigerian citizens but also Africans within the continent and in diaspora.
She is the Head of the Fundraising Committee for Nigeria Bar Association – Women’s Forum and the co-convener of the Lawyers for Creative Initiative – an initiative set up to devise efficient means of offering services to people in the Creative Industry.
She has convened, hosted and moderated several stakeholder engagements, conferences and webinars with Government Agencies, Policymakers, World Renowned Experts, International Economists and World class Entertainers, Record label Bosses & Managers.
Chinenye is a recipient of several awards including a ‘Social Impact Award’ from the Vice President of Nigeria, Prof Yemi Osinbajo SAN, for her efforts in improving Access to Justice for the less privileged and pro-bono legal aid in Nigeria. She has also been recognized as a mentor by the Young Lawyers Form, Nigerian Bar Association (Abuja Branch).


Healthy African Cuisine with Demonstration

A food demonstration on healthy Tradition meals based on West African diet.
Times are changing, this includes what it truly means to live and eat healthy. My focus would be educate the audience on how different aspects of the Nigerian Diet are powerful tools for good health and important for the modern day woman. This event will be facilitated by Dr. Chisom Azodoh, event coordinator at African Public Health Network

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Ifeyinwa Omesiete

Ifeyinwa’s passion is to redefine and demystify the narrative surrounding healthy eating and to promote SustainableDevelopment Goals 2 (Zero Hunger) and 3(good health and wellbeing). Using a combination of traditional and social media to educate, teach and informHer goal is to see Africa’s children thrive, regardless of the socio-economic status or location.
She is a certified expert Nutritionist on a mission to save Africa’s children from malnourishment and hunger. She obtained her BSc. in Nutritional Sciences from the University of Minnesota in the United States of America and has about5 years of cognate interdisciplinary experience that cuts across Africa and North America.

She is also the co- founder of the Nutrition4Kids Lagos, and the convener of the Pediatric Nutrition Challenge.

Food Demonstration Recipe

During the live cooking segment, our host, Ifeyinwa Omesiete will be preparing the following recipe.
If you would like to cook along, she has provided an ingredient's list.
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White Rice with Efo Riro (leafy green vegetable sauce)

Photo by SisiJemimah
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Ingredients

Parboiled rice
Smoked/dried fish
Meat stock
crayfish powder
Fresh red hot peppers
Red onions
Palm oil
Pumpkin leaves (ugu)
Amaranth leaves (efo tete/green)
Iru (fermented locust beans)
Salt
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Mushroom Okro soup with Tamba (finger millet) swallow

Photo by Nigerian Recipes


Ingredients

Tamba flour (finger millet)
Okro/Okra
Palm oil
Dried/smoked fish
Crayfish powder
Oyster mushrooms
Pumpkin leaves
Meat stock
Red onions
Red hot peppers
Ground ogbono (bush mango seed)
Salt

Day 5 - Fri, Apr 2nd

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Economically Empowering Women

What does financial inclusion of women in Africa look like? How i? Especially issues in affecting women in Africa. What are practical steps in ams and tools? How can we advocate for policy change from anywhere in the world? And how do we galvanize support for these issues? These are all questions we hope to get answered. This event will be facilitated byDr. Ukeme Essien, President of African Public Health Network.

Oluwatosin Olaseinde

Oluwatosin is a professional accountant with over 10 years of experience spanning across accounting, audit, financial management and taxation. She is the Founder/CEO of Money Africa, an edtech platform that enhances financial literacy and investments leveraging on technology
Oluwatosin is a Washington Mandela Fellow, she was a finalist for The Future Awards In 2019, she was selected as one the top 100 women by The Leading Ladies Africa, she was one of the top 8 traders by CNBC Africa in 2012, a member of the Golden Key International Honour Society. Oluwatosin has spoken at TedX, Featured on BBC UK, Al Jazeera, Guardian and several others.
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Ifeoma Uddoh

Ifeoma Uddoh is the founder/CEO of Shecluded - the #1 financial growth company for women in West-Africa.
She is an expert in gender-lens investing, operations, product development, and technology startups. Witha master's degree in management science and operations research from the University of Lancaster, her professional experience has spanned years working with global and Pan-African brands like PWC, iROKOtv and Compex Africa.
Ifeoma is currently championing the drive for financial inclusion for African women through her workat Shecluded"

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Main Networking Event

More Information to come. This event will be facilitated by Aisha Liman General Secretary of African Public Health Network.

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Closing Ceremony

Final presentation and networking by the E-board members. This event will be facilitated by Aisha Liman General Secretary of African Public Health Network.

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