John Nkengasong

The rise

Born in Douala, he took his first degree at the University of Yaounde, trained in Antwerp and earned a doctorate in medical sciences at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, where his research first characterised the genetic subtypes of HIV circulating in Africa. He joined WHO as chief of virology in 1993 and the US CDC a year later.

What they did

Appointed in 2016 as the first director of Africa CDC, he ran the continent's COVID-19 response from Addis Ababa, building the testing partnership and the African Medical Supplies Platform so member states bought together instead of bidding against each other. Sworn in on 13 June 2022, he led PEPFAR until 20 January 2025. He now runs higher education at the Mastercard Foundation.

The full picture

Africa CDC's 'new public health order' and its 60% local-manufacturing goal remain distant, and the agency still runs largely on outside money. After he left, PEPFAR was cut hard: by mid-2026 the State Department had released $640m of the $1.3bn normally appropriated to CDC, and South Africa's programme was winding down.

Why it matters

Cameroon's most consequential living public servant did the thing African institutions are said to be incapable of — buying as one bloc — then took the donor's chair, just in time to watch it emptied.

What citizens said

Afrobarometer Round 9 (2021–2023) — Cameroon

% who say 'trust somewhat' or 'trust a lot' · Afrobarometer Dispatch No. 891