Nigeria Elected to Board of Global Health Security Agenda Consortium

Dr. Aminu Magashi Garba, Coordinator of the Africa Health Budget Network (AHBN), has been elected as Secretary and member of the Board of Directors of the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) Consortium.

The announcement was made on Tuesday in Abuja by Dr. Jennyfer Ambe, Chair of the GHSA Board of Directors. She praised Dr. Magashi’s extensive experience in health policy, public health financing, and civil society engagement, describing him as a vital addition to the consortium’s leadership.

“Through his leadership at AHBN, Dr. Magashi has played a pivotal role in strengthening accountability mechanisms for health security across Africa,” Ambe stated.

The GHSA Consortium is a voluntary coalition of non-governmental organizations working collaboratively to build global capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious disease threats. The consortium partners with governments, international agencies, and the private sector to support global health frameworks, including the International Health Regulations (IHR), the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) PVS Pathway, and the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention.

Reacting to his election, Dr. Magashi expressed his commitment to increasing Global South participation in shaping global health security architecture.

“I look forward to advancing opportunities for capacity building and information sharing, while amplifying the voice of African civil society in global health security conversations,” he said.

Under Dr. Magashi’s leadership, AHBN co-organized Nigeria’s COVID-19 Conference in 2021 and has worked with civil society organizations across eight African countries to implement a regional health security accountability framework. These initiatives have contributed to improved governance, transparency, and coordination within national health systems.

AHBN is affiliated with several prominent global networks, including the Global Health Council, CORE Group, and the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH). Dr. Magashi also serves on Nigeria’s Sector Wide Approach (SWAp) Technical Working Group on Health Security, providing a strategic link between national and global health policy development.

The GHSA Consortium comprises over 70 countries and organizations united by a common goal: to create a world safeguarded from infectious disease threats.