John Nkengasong

John Nkengasong is a Cameroonian-American virologist who has previously served as the Director of Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO). Quotes we should be proud of that spirit of solidarity, the spirit of leadership the journey ahead, the fight against HIV/AIDS is not over We – collective “we,” as part of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals – have agreed – or, committed rather, that we should bring HIV/AIDS to an end by the year 2030 as a public health threat I remain hopeful that with the United States’ leadership, leading with diplomacy and rallying other countries around the importance of what this fund means – it’s not just a fund, but it is a way to protect ourselves, the collective selves, as part of global health security Within two months, 165 countries were affected – within a short two months. That just shows you the interconnectivity that we are, as human species, as humankind, it shows you how quickly a virus can spread A disease outbreak anywhere in the world is a threat everywhere in the world using our diplomacy to enable countries to cooperate more, to collaborate, to coordinate efforts is key What do we do to address those inequity gaps that exists in children, adolescent girls, and young women, and in key populations so that we get to 2030 by closing those gaps? Because if we do not close those gaps, and we keep treating people, you just get a large number of people that will be requiring of treatment even past 2030, right? So I call it the tap – the kitchen sink analogy You turn off the tap while you’re mopping the floor. That’s what we should be aiming at And this young – the young people that you just described, it didn’t necessarily see how nasty HIV/AIDS was 20 years ago, or 25 years ago. They didn’t see that ugly face of HIV the epidemic is driven essentially by men who have sex with men and young people regardless of where you are, whether you’re in Africa or in Southeast Asia, the rate of new infections is in the young people HIV has offered a lot for all of us who are in global public health to draw a lot of lessons So the community have always played a critical role in the HIV response, and will continue to if we have to get to the last mile The journey of HIV/AIDS has been a journey of hope The CommonHealth Live! Ambassador John Nkengasong: World AIDS Day 2023: A Journey of Hope 30 November 2023 When people ask me what PEPFAR represents for me, I think it represents three things: one is hope; second is impact; and thirdly is partnership, the power of partnerships it’s not difficult to become vulnerable to security issues across the world, like terrorism and others I think that the large amount of attention and the devotion of the resources in Africa is very proportionate to the burden of the disease We have to build bridges with the communities, and build bridges that will enable us to solve the problem that is at hand, which is to bring HIV/AIDS to an end, rather than build walls if we build walls between us and different subsets of community, we will never be able to successfully bring HIV/AIDS to an end by the year 2030. When we say in our five-year strategy that children, adolescent girls, and young women and key populations are a priority, we mean it.  It is truly a priority, because that is where the burden of the disease is Partnership with the media is always one of my priorities because that is the segue to – I mean, the population, reaching the population, that – transparently with the key messages and with the actions that we are taking Digital Press Briefing with Dr. John Nkengasong, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator and Special Representative for Global Health Diplomacy 28 February 2023 As a political leader you clearly have a responsibility to those who elected you, but sometimes leadership is required, and I think more could have been done to explain that we are dealing with a pandemic, which is, by definition, global in nature, and requires a global response Africa needs to be self-sufficient in diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics Global cooperation and support will continue to be required to develop the ecosystem and environment needed to achieve our goals There are three things that are always critical in disease eradication: effective diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines. If you miss any of those, you are in trouble it is essential that we keep the focus on transparency and accountability and tap into the immense resources that we are developing here John Nkengasong: building African autonomy to support global health 1 June 2022 If we are passive, our economies will continue to be shattered, the death toll would increase significantly and virus may become more widespread in Africa. John Nkengasong on Africa's Vaccine Game Plan 18 March 2021 Together, we can get through the last mile in this fight, continue to save lives, and ensure that we never return to the early days of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The most important thing we should think of is to guarantee patient safety; that we do not create a problem by – we do not solve a problem by creating another problem I also remain hopeful that the success that we’ve all ridden on over the last 20 years will continue to guide us and enable that the next chapter of the HIV/AIDS fight will be that of hopefulness. if we remain – we hope and we fight with solidarity, we are going to be the winners in this, and by the year 2030 TRANSCRIPT: AMBASSADOR-AT-LARGE DR. JOHN NKENGASONG’S BRIEFING – U.S. GLOBAL AIDS COORDINATOR 30 November 2023 External Link