Uche Amazigo

Uche Amazigo, retired Director of the World Health Organization African Programme for Onchocerciasis (river blindness) is one of the few Africans to have led a specialized UN Agency, overseeing a highly successful multilateral partnership in global health.

Uche was a Takemi Fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health (USA). She has devoted most of her academic, public and international career to research, sustainable community-driven health interventions, strengthening health systems and the elimination of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). 

She is honored for her leadership and professional accomplishment, in particular, her research and pioneering discovery of the disability and isolation of adolescent girls caused by river blindness skin disease. Her research contributed to the creation of the World Health Organization African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control (WHO/APOC) in 1995 – a programme she directed for six years (2005 - 2011). She was instrumental in the development of community-directed treatment (CDT) strategy – one of the most effective strategies of community leadership and participation in diversified public health programmes. She has numerous articles in international peer-reviewed scientific journals. 

In 2012, Uche won the prestigious Prince Mahidol Laureate in Public Health. In 2013, she received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. She is a fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Science (FAS); Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene; and a recipient of the 2018 Hallmarks of Labour Foundation (HLF) Award. She serves as advisor to a number of national and global boards. She currently heads a Non-Governmental Organization – the Pan-African Community Initiative on Education and Health (PACIEH).