Githinji Gitahi

A passionate advocate for pro-poor Universal Health Coverage, Githinji Gitahi joined Amref Health Africa as the Global Chief Executive Officer in June 2015. Amref Health Africa, founded in 1957, is the largest African-led international organization on the continent and reaches more than 11million people each year through 150 health-focused projects across 35 countries. Until his appointment to Amref Health Africa, Dr Gitahi was the Vice President and Regional Director for Africa, Smile Train International. Prior to that, Dr Gitahi was Managing Director for Monitor Publications in Uganda as well as General Manager for Marketing and Circulation in East Africa for the Nation Media Group. He held progressively senior positions at GlaxoSmithKline and worked at the Avenue Group and in the insurance industry. Dr Gitahi is Co-Chair of the UHC2030 Steering Committee, a global World Bank and World Health Organization (WHO) initiative for Universal Health Coverage (UHC). He is member of the Board of Directors of The Standard Group in Kenya, and was recently appointed as a member of the Board of Trustees of Safaricom Foundation. He is also a member of the Governing Board of the Africa Centre’s for Disease Control and prevention (Africa CDC), a specialized technical institution under the African Union. Dr Gitahi Bachelor’s Degree in Medicine from the University of Nairobi; a Master’s degree in Business Administration, majoring in Marketing, from United States International University and has a Certificate for Strategic Perspectives for Nonprofit Management from Harvard University. On Wednesday, December 12, 2018, Dr Githinji received a presidential commendation, ‘Moran of the Order of the Burning Spear’ (MBS) in recognition of outstanding contribution to the health sector in his continuing work at the helm of Amref Health Africa.