As countries around the world fight to contain COVID-19, learnings from the 2014-2016 Ebola crisis provide key insights to tackle this new pandemic. The Aspen Global Innovators Group spoke with Agnes Binagwaho, Vice Chancellor of the University of Global Health Equity and former Minister of Health of Rwanda and Raj Panjabi, Co-Founder and CEO of Last Mile Health about the importance of accountability and leadership in pandemic response.
Speakers
Agnes Binagwaho
Vice Chancellor, University of Global Health Equity & Former Minister of Health of Rwanda
Professor Agnes Binagwaho, MD, M(Ped), PhD, is the Vice Chancellor of the University of Global Health Equity, an initiative of Partners In Health focused on changing the way health care is delivered around the world by training the next generation of global health professionals. She is a Rwandan pediatrician and worked for 20 years in the public health sector in Rwanda. From 2002 to 2016, she served the Rwandan Health Sector in high-level government positions, first as the Executive Secretary of Rwanda’s National AIDS Control Commission, then as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, and then for five years as Minister of Health. Professor Binagwaho serves as Senior Advisor to the Director General of the World Health Organization and, since 2016, she has been a member of the United States National Academy of Medicine and, since 2017, a fellow of the African Academy of Sciences.
Raj Panjabi
Co-Founder & CEO, Last Mile Health
Dr. Raj Panjabi is the CEO of Last Mile Health and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham & Women’s Hospital. Raj grew up in Liberia and fled Liberia’s civil war with his family when he was nine years old, becoming a refugee in the United States of America. He returned to Liberia as a medical student and then in 2007 co-founded Last Mile Health, a non-profit organization working to save lives in the world’s most remote communities.