In a congratulatory message signed by the President and Secretary of HEWAN,  Chioma Obinna and  Lucy Osuizigbo, on Tuesday in Lagos, the Association noted that as  an expert in internal medicine and infectious diseases, Pate’s appointment was well deserved.

The association urged Pate to use his office to support and make vaccination and immunisation  programmes sustainable to
prevent infectious diseases in Nigeria.

It also urged him to advocate and support policies that will increase vaccination interventions globally as a strategy to curb diseases worldwide including the West African sub region.

The Association wished Pate, a former Minister of State for Health in Nigeria, success in the new assignment, assuring him of the association’s support.

Pate was in May 2019 appointed by the World Bank Group as the Global Director of Health, Nutrition and Population (HNP) and Director, Global Financing Facility (GFF), in Washington DC.

At about the same time, he was also appointed by the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health as Julio Frenk Professor of Public Health Leadership in the Department of Global Health and Population.

He had previously worked with the World Bank: he joined the Bank as a young professional in 2000 and worked on health issues such HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in several regions including Africa and the East Asia and Pacific.

Prior to Pate’s appointment as Nigeria’s Minister of State for Health in 2011, he had successfully served as the Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA).

In 2013, he resigned as the Minister of State for Health to join the Duke University’s Global Health Institute, where he served as a visiting professor and taught comparative health systems to postgraduate students.