WHO Appoints Young Ghanaian Health Expert Dr. Khalifa Banda

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has appointed a young Ghanaian health expert, Dr. Khalifa Banda, to its Technical Advisory Group on Emergency Preparedness and Response (WHO EPR-TAG). Dr. Khalifa is the only Ghanaian and youngest member of the group, joining experts from other parts of the world on the newly established WHO (EPR-TAG) for the African region.

The Emergency Preparedness & Response Technical Advisory Group (EPR-TAG) is an independent body that will serve as the principal advisory group to the WHO for strategic guidance on all matters related to public health emergency preparedness and response across the African Region. The Technical Advisory Group comprises 15 world experts and is tasked with enhancing health security, especially in Africa. An independent committee chose these experts from among more than 600 candidates.

This appointment marks a significant moment in Dr. Khalifa's career, highlighting his extensive expertise in public health policy, vaccine strategy, and epidemiology. Dr. Khalifa joins other esteemed professionals in the group, including Dr. Ebere Okereke from Nigeria, Professor Helen Rees from South Africa, Professor Rebecca Martin, and Dr. Rick Bright from the USA.

With this new position, Dr. Banda looks forward to contributing to and learning from this extraordinary group under the guidance of the regional director of WHO/AFRO. Dr. Khalifa’s WHO appointment comes after he recently joined the Africa CDC’s editorial board as a section editor and Managing Director for a new non-profit, Center for Advancing Health Systems Innovations.