Dr. Halima A Mwenesi

African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA)

Public Health & Policy

Halima Abdullah Mwenesi, currently holds the position of Technical Manager of the NetMark Africa Regional Malaria Program, within the Department of Global Health, Population and Nutrition; Academy for Educational Department (AED) in Washington, DC. She holds a PhD in Health Care Evaluation from the University of London, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; obtained in 1993. Her previous academic training was in Social Sciences (BA and MA Sociology, University of Nairobi). Dr. Mwenesi joined AED at the inception of the NetMark Program in 1999. Her roles within the project over the years have included not only provision of overall technical oversight on malaria but has also included continuous provision of expert input into the fields of research, policy and advocacy on ITNs and other malaria interventions. Over the last ten years, Dr. Mwenesi has focused mainly on technical, promotional and strategic policy issues related to scaling up of effective interventions for malaria prevention and treatment. The multi-disciplinary nature of the NetMark program has endowed Dr. Mwenesi with invaluable new skills in the areas of social marketing, public/private partnerships and communications for behavior change.

As the liaison person between the NetMark program with Ministries of Health, USAID missions and Roll Back Malaria partners, she is also the focal point for advice to countries for the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Dr. Mwenesi continues to provide support to global malaria efforts through her affiliation with numerous anti-malaria initiatives/committees sponsored by bilateral, NGO and government agencies around the world. Over the years she has served as an advisor to the World Health Organization through participation in numerous expert panels, Committees and Task Forces. Currently, Dr. Mwenesi is the Chairperson of the Multi-Lateral Initiative on Malaria (MIM/TDR) Task Force; Vice-Chair, WHO/AFRO Advisory Committee on Malaria; an elected Coordinating Team member of the East and West African RBM sub-regional networks; member of the Research Capacity Strengthening (RCS plus) Initiative team of TDR/WHO; member External Research Review team, Swiss Tropical Institute (STI); member External Advisory Board, KEMRI-Welcome Trust Research Program and is a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of INDEPTH. Dr. Mwenesi also sits on the Board of Trustees of the International Center for Diarrhoeal Diseases Research (ICDDR) in Bangladesh. She has coordinated and contributed to numerous documents, reports and reviews on various aspects of malaria. Prior to joining AED, Dr. Mwenesi has held positions as Senior Scientist at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) and Operations Research Coordinator, for WHO’s Special Program for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR)