Brendan Kwesiga is a Health Economist/Health Financing Specialist with over 15 years’ experience in technical advisory positions at country, regional and global level. He currently works as are Senior Health Specialist at UNICEF HQ supporting efforts for sustainable financing for immunization and primary health care. Before joining UNICEF, he worked as a Technical Officer at the World Health Organization (WHO), where he supported countries in the African Region with health financing policy formulation, implementation of financing reforms, and with generation and use of economic evidence to improve health system performance. He has also served as a Health Financing Advisor at Management Sciences for Health (MSH) in Uganda and has worked as a health economics and financing consultant for various bilateral and multilateral agencies, as well as academic institutions. A Ugandan national, Brendan holds a B.Sc. in Quantitative Economics from Makerere University (Uganda), a Masters in Health Economics from the University of Cape Town (South Africa), and Public Finance from SOAS University of London (United Kingdom).
Dr Girmaye Dinsa is a Senior Health Economist and currently works as a Deputy Director – Health Financing at Fenot Associates for the Fenot Project of the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health based in Ethiopia. He is also health financing advisor to the Minister of Health of Ethiopia as well as Amhara and Oromia Regional Health Bureaus. Prior to joining the Fenot/Harvard project, Dr Dinsa worked at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine as a Research Fellow on two projects implemented in Ethiopia. Girmaye has several years of experience managing public health projects and teaching at universities. He is an Honorary Associate Professor of Health Economics in Jimma and Haramaya universities in Ethiopia. Girmaye holds a PhD in Health Economics from the Norwich School of Medicine, and a Master’s in Development Economics from the School of International Development in the University of East Anglia, UK, as well as Bachelor’s in Economics from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia.
Dr. Shabana Haider is a global health leader with over 15 years of transformative experience spanning health systems strengthening, policy development, and sustainable financing across low-and middle-income countries. As Country Director of ThinkWell in Pakistan, she leads strategic initiatives in health financing, human resources, governance, and systems reform, advising three provincial governments.
Dr. Rose Jalang’o is Head of Kenya’s National Vaccines and Immunization Program, specializing in vaccinology, global health leadership, and sustainable immunization financing. She has led the introduction and nationwide roll-out of vaccines including HPV, Yellow Fever, Meningitis, COVID-19, Typhoid, and Measles-Rubella, combining strategic planning, data-driven policy, and resource mobilization to strengthen Kenya’s immunization systems. She holds an MBChB, an MPH, and advanced training in vaccinology and biomedical research.
Soazic Elise Wang Sonne is an Economist and data scientist with the Health, Nutrition and Population (HNP) unit of the World Bank Group based in Washington, DC. She has been leading immunization financing analytical work in Lower Middle-Income Country (LMIC) countries in the Africa region, including the Republic of Congo, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Angola. She joined the World Bank Group in 2019 under the coveted Young Professional Program (YPP). Her main areas of interest include public finance for health and children, big data, AI and analytics applied to human development sectors, and economic impacts assessments. She holds a PhD in innovation, economics and governance for sustainable development (IEGDS) from the United Nations University-Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology; a joint research and training institute of the United Nations University and Maastricht University (UNU-MERIT) (The Netherlands), an MBA from Imperial College London (UK) and a double Msc/Eng degree in statistics and applied economics from the National School of Statistics and Applied Economics from (ENSAE/CAPESA Paris). She also holds a Graduate Public Leadership Credential from the Harvard Kennedy School (with distinction) and a graduate certificate on Public Finance from the National School of Public Administration of Canada/ Quebec (ENAP).
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