Phionah Lynn Atuhebwe
Immunization Specialist/Vaccinologist
Nairobi
Summary
Public Health and Immunization Programme Specialist with over 15 years of progressive experience driving immunization initiatives at country, regional, and global levels. Currently leading UNICEF’s global agenda on The Big Catch-Up to recover immunization losses post-COVID-19 and heading the stream on Immunization Coverage and Equity in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Settings (FCVs).
Proven expertise in the introduction of new vaccines (HPV, PCV, Rotavirus, Malaria, TCV, OCV, among others) and in coordinating high-impact campaigns, including Measles-Rubella (MR) and leading the introduction of COVID-19 vaccines, across Africa and Asia. Adept at deploying innovative, evidence-based approaches that strengthen health systems, expand equitable access, and ensure sustainable programme outcomes.
Skilled in managing multi-country immunization and health systems' grants with global partners including Gavi, WHO, PATH, UNICEF, Mastercard Foundation and the Gates Foundation. Deep contextual knowledge of fragile and humanitarian settings enables me to navigate complex operational realities while aligning stakeholders toward common goals.
Overview
20
20
years of professional experience
4
4
Languages
Work History
Senior Health Advisor - Immunization
UNICEF Headquarters
05.2023 - Current
- Lead UNICEF’s work on the Big Catch-Up at global level supporting 6 regions and 35 countries to develop and implement catch-up plans for children missed during the pandemic
- Lead UNICEF’s work on improving routine immunization coverage in fragile and conflict settings
- Ensure that immunization Programme policies, strategies, and approaches are developed and advocated for
- Submit recommendations and position papers for use in the development of UNICEF global programme policy.
- Ensure that the most relevant and latest immunization technical expertise is, generated, maintained, and disseminated throughout the Regions and the Organization, and shared with the regional/national institutions/partners.
- Facilitates support to respond to needs and opportunities, creating a work environment which promotes and facilitates team work and demands ongoing learning and development, setting high standards for measuring success towards reaching health related SDGs in the region. Remains current in related fields to ensure an integrated approach toward immunization/health related SDGs.
- Represent and advocate for UNICEF in meetings with WHO, Gavi, high level and senior government officials, agencies, NGOs, and donors, forging internal and external partnerships and stakeholders in the development of harmonized programme interventions, through high level representation in global and regional forums
- Contribute to better consultative processes and networking with donors while building strategic alliances with various global level international and regional partners, associations, entrepreneurs, academics, religious organizations and NGOs.
Regional New Vaccines Introduction Medical/Technical Officer
WHO Regional office for Africa
08.2017 - 05.2023
- Advise and empower governments and all country level stakeholders including UN partners with relevant resources and support the contextualization of evidence-based information and updates on a rolling basis to support decision making in the introduction of new vaccines and use of underutilized vaccines within the UHC context
- Provide overall coordination of Targeted Country Assistance to Member States to adapt and adopt norms, standards and technical guidelines for new vaccine introductions and facilitate the translation of the same into action
- Organize quarterly forums for experience and knowledge sharing within Member States to promote innovations for strategic advancement of country priorities
- In collaboration with the ISTs, identify areas requiring technical assistance and institutional strengthening, and lead the provision and brokering of the required technical support for successful vaccine introductions
- Support resource mobilization through donor engagements, proposal writing and technical reporting, ensure efficient use of financial, technical, and human resources for optimal results both at regional and country levels
- Provide technical support and convene partners and stakeholders, civil society, the private sector and communities to build consensus through evidence and science to conduct risk assessments, develop cost-effective national vaccine deployment strategies and plans, including in public health emergencies
- Convene and coordinate regional level health development partners to promote development cooperation effectiveness within the principles of regional/national ownership, harmonization, alignment and mutual accountability
- Support efforts to strengthen national capacity to comply with global and regional commitments and resolutions to contribute to regional and global health priorities and WHO’s work under the GPW -13
- Support efforts to strengthen national capacity to collect, analyze, disseminate and use national data for monitoring implementation progress and intervention impact and ultimately aid evidence-based decision at national and regional levels
- Proactively support WHO AFRO communications and publications, weekly virtual press conferences and releases including web-based, social media, local and international media interviews to ensure the optimization of WHO’s visibility, impact and reputation in the region
- Oversee the identification of skilled and competent staff/consultants and participate in the recruitment of international staff during vaccination in emergencies
- Represent WHO AFRO in all global level new vaccine committees and decision making bodies at both technical and programmatic levels
- Key achievements:
- As chair of the AFRO Regional Review Committee, I successfully led the review process of the COVID-19 vaccine National Deployment and Vaccination Plans (NDVPs). Working closely with over twenty immunization partners in the region including Africa CDC, UNICEF, UNFPA and IFRC, 42 NDVPs were successfully reviewed, feedback provided to countries and ultimately approved for the COVID-19 vaccine dose allocation by the COVAX facility. As a result, all 42 countries received 18.2 million COVAX doses by May 2021.
- As the lead for the vaccines pillar of the AFRO COVID-19 pandemic Incident Management Support Team, I successfully coordinated the identification, recruitment, training and eventual deployment of over 70 consultants to support the deployment of COVID-19 vaccines across the region that resulted in 28 million individuals receiving at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by May 2021.
- As a coordinator for the Africa COVID-19 Vaccine Equitable Deployment Task Force, I successfully coordinated all immunization regional partners (civil society, academia, NGOs, bilateral agencies, UN agencies and donors) in a quest for alignment of technical assistance to countries. This resulted in harmonized regional and country level work plans avoiding duplication of efforts and efficient use of the limited resources.
- I successfully led donor discussions and proposal writing for COVID-19 vaccination funding that saw WHO AFRO raise over USD 20 Million (ECHO 18M, Vital Strategies 1.7M, CDC 500,000) for the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out support.
- Amidst a global shortage of the HPV vaccine, I Successfully led 28 HPV vaccine grant applications and 15 introductions in the region by 2020.
- Working closely with the Ministry of Health, national and international partners, I provided overall technical guidance the first ever Typhoid Conjugate Vaccine (TCV) campaign in Africa in Harare, Zimbabwe that finally led to the first two countries in the region to introduce TCV into routine immunization (Liberia and Zimbabwe).
- I successfully provided support to the WHO AFRO communications team to increase the visibility of WHO’s work in Polio eradication and the COVID-19 pandemic by moderating the weekly press conferences led by the Regional Director. In addition, I successfully coordinated communication for the COVID-19 vaccine including production of over 20 “Viral Facts” videos in which I appeared providing clarification on the vaccine. These attracted over 500,000 views on the WHO led “Viral Facts” page and WHO AFRO social media handles.
- In 2020, I successfully coordinated a team of Country Focal points for the COVID-19 pandemic, a liaison team between the AFRO IMST and countries. This arrangement resulted in increased efficiency and real time data tracking and support countries for various technical aspects including case and data management, laboratory testing, infection prevention and control, risk communication, etc.
- In collaboration with the Polio Eradication team, I supported the roll-out of the IPV vaccine to all 47 Member States of WHO AFRO.
- Supported the preparations and deployment of the Ebola vaccine in Uganda and Burundi as border countries to DRC that resulted in vaccination of all Frontline workers in the high risk areas.
Africa and Asia Regional Technical Advisor, Vaccine Access and Delivery
PATH International
10.2014 - 07.2017
- Leading PATH’s vaccines and immunization portfolio in 52 countries in Africa and Asia
- Founder member of the Gavi’s global HPV leadership team
- Providing technical assistance (TA) to 52 Gavi-eligible countries in Africa and Asia regarding design, implementation, and evaluation of new vaccine programs.
- Providing TA to the National Expanded Programs on Immunization for the planning, preparation, and implementation of the national rollout of new vaccines.
- Providing TA to immunization program staff and partners in other Gavi-eligible countries, particularly those in Africa and Asia, to develop program evaluation protocols, instruments and data collection plans for country compliance with Gavi requirements for new vaccine programs
- Providing TA in data management and analysis, and monitor quality of data collection and protocol implementation in evaluations conducted by GAVI-eligible countries.
- Providing TA to Gavi-eligible countries in the preparation and completion of successful applications for new vaccine support through demonstration programs or national scale-up.
- Acting as country liaison for PATH’s new vaccine-related work in designated countries
- Working collaboratively with other international and country-level partners providing support for HPV vaccine delivery or evaluation.
- Representing TA work with key partners, such as the World Health Organization, GAVI Alliance, UNICEF, UNFPA, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and others, at the direction of the project director/team lead.
- Assisting teams in preparing technical documents, reports, and manuscripts for self-publication, multimedia outlets, and peer-reviewed journals.
- Work with WHO, GSK and other stakeholders to develop and execute activities that will help to ensure that country-level decision makers in sub-Saharan Africa, have the necessary data and estimates they require including clinical trial data, public health impact estimates and other health economic findings to inform an evidence-based decision on the optimal use of a malaria vaccine in the context of other interventions.
- Support the streamlining of the technical information exchange process with countries including identifying data sources, the development of tools and generation of reports.
- Provide technical and program support to countries to define processes for making a future malaria vaccine adoption decision.
Senior Health Systems Advisor
Ipas Africa Alliance
01.2013 - 09.2014
- Lead and supervise Ipas’ 24 Policy and Advocacy personnel in the development and implementation of project plans and budgets for implementation of policy work at regional and national levels in East, Central and Southern Africa
- Lead the process of development of Ministry of Health Standards and Guidelines for reduction of maternal mortality from unsafe abortion in Uganda, Malawi, Zambia and Kenya
- Provide leadership and support Ipas’ partners in Uganda in the design, implementation and evaluation of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) service delivery projects and advocacy
- Represent Ipas in 12 African countries for its relations with government officials, donors and implementing partners in the SRHR fields at local, national and International levels
- Identify implementing partners, develop and lead a pool of in-country consultants to support Ipas work in the East, Central and Southern Africa regions.
- Support implementing partners in Uganda to develop and implement project plans and provide technical assistance and financial management and reporting
- Prepare and present technical and program reports on sexual and reproductive health and rights issues relevant in Uganda to various forums.
- Coordinate the dissemination and implementation of Ipas’ research projects to policy makers and other Sexual and Reproductive Health Stakeholders in Kenya and Uganda.
- Train the Judiciary, Ministry of Health officials and Uganda and Kenya Women Parliamentarians on the use of research findings for policy change and implementation
- Prepare and disseminate research reports, fact sheets and policy briefs to various target audiences
- Support organization units (Research, Monitoring and Evaluation, Community Access, Health Systems and Policy) lead persons in conceptualizing and designing activities that draw synergy across the units.
- Coordinate the organization of meetings and conferences to share lessons learned at national, regional and international levels.
- Development and presentation of technical presentations for national, regional and international conferences on sexual and reproductive health and rights
- Assign materials and resources for maximum achievement of deliverables across the units.
Research Award Recipient and Principal Investigator
International Development Research Centre (IDRC)
01.2012 - 12.2012
- Conducting an operational research on “Assessing community understanding and perception of Equity in Sexual and Reproductive Health at district level in Uganda”
- Supporting research grant recipients in Africa and Asia to utilize research findings to develop and disseminate advocacy materials to influence policies in their countries.
- Reviewing and assessing concept notes, research support projects, project proposals from East, Central and Southern Africa and assisting with their administration
- Providing strategic and technical advice and support to IDRC’s research grant recipients in Latin America, South and South Eastern Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa
- Assisting multiple grant recipients in creating Monitoring and Evaluation plans for activities to inform high level decision making.
- Ensuring recipients’ compliance with Monitoring and Evaluation donor requirements for projects funded by IDRC and other partners and stakeholders.
- Compilation of direct and indirect project results and lessons learned for wider dissemination within the Centre and outside
- Collection, analysis and management of information from wide variety of sources to investigate aspects of issues relevant to the program
- Generating and providing information as requested for both internal and external audiences
- Compilation of final technical reports from research projects in developing countries and meeting reports and uploading them to organization’s website.
SRHR Technical Advisor
Coalition for Health Promotion and Social development (HEPS Uganda)
01.2009 - 01.2012
- Proposal development, implementation and evaluation of human rights research projects
- HEPS-Uganda representative at high level ministerial meetings to discuss findings of various studies and present recommendations to relevant policy makers
- Civil Society Organization point person for the process of streamlining of medicines and supplies procurement and distribution policies in Uganda
- Health policy analysis, development and implementation in Uganda
- Civil Society Organization representative at Ministry of Health level on matters of sexual and reproductive health and rights
- Development of concepts and proposals for projects both at community and health facility level
- Conducting research to inform evidence based practice.
- Design, formulation and dissemination of Information, Education and Communication materials on Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) services and rights.
- Community mobilization and advocacy on sexual and reproductive health
- Empowering women leaders with Sexual and Reproductive Health knowledge and rights
- Facilitation of trainings in HIV/AIDS, Family planning, reproductive health and communicable diseases for leaders in various districts.
- Advocacy for reduction in medicine prices and healthcare for all especially antiretroviral drugs.
Medical Officer in-Charge
Africa Air Rescue
01.2006 - 01.2008
- Team leader for a mental health research study conducted among AAR patients and utilization of these results for early detection of depression among clients by health providers
- Development and maintenance of a data base of various categories of patients according to illnesses (Non-communicable diseases, TB/HIV, etc) for analysis of trends and better management.
- Setting up and managing the Health Promotion Clinic for prevention of adverse events of Non-Communicable Diseases
- Develop and manage facility budgets and update Senior management team on a regular basis
- Supervision of a team of 20 doctors and 15 nurses and other Allied Health professionals.
Education
Certificate - African Vaccinology
University of Cape Town
Cape Town, South Africa01.2015
Advanced Certificate - Project Leadership
Cornell University
U.S.A08.2013
Master of International Public Health - International Public Health
University of Leeds
United Kingdom12.2011
Bachelor of Medicine And Bachelor of Surgery - Medicine And Surgery
Mbarara University of Science And Technology
Uganda01.2007
Skills
Public Speaking
Immunization in Fragile and Conflict Settings
Programme management and implementation
Training facilitation and capacity building
undefinedAwards
International Development Centre-Canada Research Award, Ruth Griffith Prize, University of Leeds, 2011., Joint Japan/World Bank Graduate Scholarship
Training
- August 2012 Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans Course on Research Ethics (TCPS 2: CORE), Ottawa, Canada
- April 2011 Paediatric HIV/AIDS Prevention, Surveillance and Management, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), Geneva, Switzerland.
- July 2010 Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS), Africa Air Rescue, Nairobi, Kenya
- Dec 2009 Updated TB/Leprosy Management, Kenya Association for Prevention of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases (Kenya)
- July 2009 Gender-Based Violence Recovery, Gender Based Recovery Centre -Nairobi Women’s Hospital (Kenya)
- Oct 2008 Incident command System (ICS) International Mine Action Training Centre (Kenya)
- June 2008 Basic Life Support (BLS) Africa Air Rescue (Kenya)
- June 2005 HIV/AIDS Management (Adult and Paediatric). Makerere University (Uganda)
Country Experience
Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Ethiopia, Ghana, Liberia, Zimbabwe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Mozambique, South Africa, Morocco, Nepal, Bangladesh, Thailand, Solomon Islands, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Canada, USA.
Personal attributes
- Excellent communication skills – oral and written
- Strong management and organizational skills
- Strong negotiation skills
- Very pro-active personality with commendable ability to develop initiatives
- Excellent interpersonal and multicultural skills
- High proficiency in English speaking, writing and presentation skills
- Fast learner with enthusiasm to learn new ideas and skills.
- Paying attention to detail and goal-oriented
- Ability to work under minimum supervision and an effective time manager
Accomplishments
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Affiliations
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Timeline
Senior Health Advisor - Immunization
UNICEF Headquarters
05.2023 - Current
Regional New Vaccines Introduction Medical/Technical Officer
WHO Regional office for Africa
08.2017 - 05.2023
Africa and Asia Regional Technical Advisor, Vaccine Access and Delivery
PATH International
10.2014 - 07.2017
Senior Health Systems Advisor
Ipas Africa Alliance
01.2013 - 09.2014
Research Award Recipient and Principal Investigator
International Development Research Centre (IDRC)
01.2012 - 12.2012
SRHR Technical Advisor
Coalition for Health Promotion and Social development (HEPS Uganda)
01.2009 - 01.2012
Medical Officer in-Charge
Africa Air Rescue
01.2006 - 01.2008
Certificate - African Vaccinology
University of Cape Town
Advanced Certificate - Project Leadership
Cornell University
Master of International Public Health - International Public Health
University of Leeds
Bachelor of Medicine And Bachelor of Surgery - Medicine And Surgery
Mbarara University of Science And Technology
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