Editorial staff of the AJHESP - Year 2026


Alex Adjagba

Alex Adjagba

Editor in chief — United States

Dr. Alex O. Adjagba is Senior Adviser and Global Lead for Health Economics and Financing at the UNICEF Centre of Excellence for Child Survival and Development, based in Nai...

alex.adjagba@africanjhesp.org

Dr. Alex O. Adjagba is Senior Adviser and Global Lead for Health Economics and Financing at the UNICEF Centre of Excellence for Child Survival and Development, based in Nairobi, where he leads UNICEF´s first dedicated cross-cutting health economics and financing section, providing technical support to all health sections and country offices globally. His research focuses on subnational health financing, immunisation economics, donor transitions, and the political economy of health financing in Africa. Prior to his current role, he directed the SIVAC Initiative at the Agence de Médecine Préventive in Paris, supporting the establishment of national immunization technical advisory groups (NITAGs) in 40+ countries, and worked at PATH Geneva on malaria vaccine economic evaluation. He served as Chief of Section, Health and Nutrition at UNICEF Zimbabwe and as Senior Health Specialist at UNICEF´s Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office in Nairobi. He holds a PhD from the University of the Western Cape, an MSc in Health Policy, Planning and Financing from the London School of Economics and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and an MD from the University of Abomey-Calavi, Benin. He co-leads AJHESP as founding Co-Editor-in-Chief.
Justice Nonvignon

Justice Nonvignon

Editor in chief — Ghana

Prof. Justice Nonvignon is Professor of Health Economics at the School of Public Health, University of Ghana, and&n...

Justice.Nonvignon@africanjhesp.org

Prof. Justice Nonvignon is Professor of Health Economics at the School of Public Health, University of Ghana, and Technical Director for Health Economics and Financing at Management Sciences for Health, Accra. From 2021 to 2024, he served as founding Head of the Health Economics and Financing Division at the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the African Union's continental public health agency. His research spans economic evaluation, health technology assessment, health financing transitions, and the political economy of development assistance for health. He is Board Director for Africa at the International Health Economics Association (iHEA) and serves on the advisory panels of the World Bank Pandemic Fund and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. He is a Member of the Board of Global Health Economic Centre at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. His work has been cited in policy documents by the African Union, the World Bank, and multiple African Ministries of Health. He co-leads AJHESP as founding Co-Editor-in-Chief.
Rutendo Kambarami

Rutendo Kambarami

Managing Editor — Zambia

Rutendo Kambarami leads communications for the African Journal of Health Economics, Systems and Policy, overseeing editorial outreach, stakeholder engagement, and the journal'...

Rutendo.Kambarami@africanjhesp.org

Rutendo Kambarami leads communications for the African Journal of Health Economics, Systems and Policy, overseeing editorial outreach, stakeholder engagement, and the journal's bilingual public-facing voice across its podcast, digital platforms, and partner network. She is a communications and advocacy professional with extensive experience across Africa's humanitarian and development sectors, with hands-on engagement in 36 countries. Her expertise spans strategic communications, stakeholder engagement, media relations, and advisory support to senior leadership on institutional positioning. She has worked with civil society organisations, intergovernmental bodies, and national governments, including UNICEF, UNDP, the African Union, and the African Capacity Building Foundation, leading campaigns and narrative-change initiatives at national, regional, and continental scales. Her practice is grounded in a deep understanding of Africa's socio-political and developmental landscape and in the conviction that communication is not peripheral but foundational to effective institutions, sustainable partnerships, and lasting change. She brings the same rigour to mentoring emerging African communications professionals as to her work with senior leadership.
Damian Walker

Damian Walker

Associate Editor — United States

Dr. Damian Walker has more than 25 years of experience in global health economics and financing. During his career, Damian has worked in academia as a Professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Pu...

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Dr. Damian Walker has more than 25 years of experience in global health economics and financing. During his career, Damian has worked in academia as a Professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, at the Gates Foundation funding efforts to support priority setting processes and institutions, for the Center for Global Development (a leading think-tank), and most recently for the international NGO Management Sciences for Health, where he led their health economics and financing, and data and digital health practice areas. Currently, Damian is an independent consultant providing advisory and technical services to a range of clients. He is also a member of the Global Fund´s Technical Review Panel, serving as its focal point for health financing. Dr. Walker has a PhD in health economics from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
Emilie Koum Besson

Emilie Koum Besson

Associate Editor — Benin

Emilie Koum Besson is a sustainable health financing specialist, she works on aligning fiscal policy and public financial management with how health systems are financed and delivered in practice. Cur...

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Emilie Koum Besson is a sustainable health financing specialist, she works on aligning fiscal policy and public financial management with how health systems are financed and delivered in practice. Currently with UNDP, she supports countries in navigating sustainability, transition, and co-financing agendas in relation to global health initiatives. Her work focuses on aligning external financing with domestic systems to strengthen implementation, accountability, and long-term sustainability. She brings experience across diverse country contexts, including fragile and transition settings, with a background in pharmaceutical systems and access to medicines. She writes Epistemic Sovereignty & Africa, a LinkedIn newsletter exploring power, knowledge production, and the political economy of global health and development.
Daniel A. Erku

Daniel A. Erku

Associate Editor — Ethiopia

Dr. Daniel Erku is a Senior Advisor and Technical Lead of the Health Economics and Financing Unit at the Economic Policy and Innovation Centre (EPIC) for Health Systems in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A pha...

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Dr. Daniel Erku is a Senior Advisor and Technical Lead of the Health Economics and Financing Unit at the Economic Policy and Innovation Centre (EPIC) for Health Systems in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A pharmacist by training with a PhD in Applied Health Economics from the University of Queensland. He has over twelve years of experience leading health financing, HTA institutionalization, and primary healthcare reform initiatives across low- and middle-income countries, working with Ministries of Health, WHO, and the World Bank. He has authored 97+ peer-reviewed publications and serves on ISPOR's Health Science Policy Council. Daniel is committed to building African-led evidence systems that translate rigorous economic analysis into the financing decisions that strengthen primary healthcare and advance universal health coverage.
Richmond Owusu

Richmond Owusu

Associate Editor — Ghana

Dr. Richmond Owusu is a Health Economist at the University of Ghana, School of Public Health, with expertise in health economics, health financing, and policy evaluation. His work focuses on cost anal...

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Dr. Richmond Owusu is a Health Economist at the University of Ghana, School of Public Health, with expertise in health economics, health financing, and policy evaluation. His work focuses on cost analysis, economic evaluation of health interventions, immunization economics, and fiscal space analysis in transition economies. He researches the economic burden of communicable diseases such as HIV, TB, and malaria, as well as non-communicable diseases including diabetes, hypertension, and cancers. Dr. Owusu has led and contributed to major consultancies, including cost-effectiveness analyses of rotavirus and COVID-19 vaccines across several African countries. He has supported WHO Ghana and R4D and serves on multiple technical working groups for Ghana´s Ministry of Health, Africa CDC, and WHO.
Beryl Maritim

Beryl Maritim

Associate Editor — Kenya

Beryl Maritim is a health financing researcher at the Health Economics Research Unit of the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, where she leads the unit´s health financing research portfoli...

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Beryl Maritim is a health financing researcher at the Health Economics Research Unit of the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, where she leads the unit´s health financing research portfolio. Her work focuses on primary health care financing, social health insurance reforms, provider payment systems, strategic purchasing, and financial protection in low- and middle-income countries. Beryl completed her PhD at the Centre for Health Policy, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, as a CARTA Doctoral Research fellow. Her research is driven by a strong interest in equity, solidarity, and the role of financing reforms in strengthening primary health care and advancing universal health coverage in low- and middle-income countries.
Christabell Abewe

Christabell Abewe

Associate Editor — Uganda

Dr. Christabell Abewe is a Health Economist with over 15 years of experience in health economics, health financing, and health systems strengthening. She has led and contributed to a wide range of pro...

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Dr. Christabell Abewe is a Health Economist with over 15 years of experience in health economics, health financing, and health systems strengthening. She has led and contributed to a wide range of projects focused on economic evaluation, health financing policy, health financing diagnostics, health expenditure tracking, and equity in health financing. Her expertise includes the use of economic models to estimate health system financing needs, optimize resource allocation, and design strategies to improve the sustainability of health services. Her experience spans both systemwide and disease- or program-specific health economics and financing initiatives across several African countries, including Uganda, South Africa, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Ethiopia, and Zambia. She holds a Bachelor´s degree in Economics from Makerere University, a Master of Public Health (Health Economics concentration), and a Doctor of Philosophy in Health Economics from the University of Cape Town. She currently works as the Health Financing Officer at the WHO Country Office in Uganda.
Olatunde Aremu

Olatunde Aremu

Associate Editor — United Kingdom

Dr Olatunde Aremu, MSc BPharm, MPH, PhD, Birmingham City University, United Kingdom, is a senior academic and health economist researcher with over 20 years of experience spanning clinical practice, m...

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Dr Olatunde Aremu, MSc BPharm, MPH, PhD, Birmingham City University, United Kingdom, is a senior academic and health economist researcher with over 20 years of experience spanning clinical practice, medical technology consulting, and academia. He has served as an academic editor and on the editorial boards of several high-impact journals in the fields of health economics, public health, and health services research. He has contributed over 80 articles to peer-reviewed journals, focusing on economic evaluations, public health, social epidemiology, disease burdens, healthcare utilisation, and pharmacoepidemiology. He has contributed to several projects funded by organisations such as the Health Foundation, Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research, the Gate Foundation under the GBD project, and the NIHR-commissioned research under the Health Technology Assessment Programme.
Jacob Novignon

Jacob Novignon

Associate Editor — Ghana

Jacob Novignon is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Social Policy Studies, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana. He has over 10 years of experience across a range of topics, including health fin...

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Jacob Novignon is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Social Policy Studies, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana. He has over 10 years of experience across a range of topics, including health financing, inequality analysis, health outcomes and utilization, health system efficiency, and economic evaluation. He has also worked as an individual research consultant for various national and international organizations. His overall work has comprised quantitative and impact evaluation methods.
Angela Kairu

Angela Kairu

Associate Editor — Kenya

Dr. Angela Kairu is a medical doctor and health economist at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Health Economics Research Unit. Her work sits at the intersection of health financing, priority-setting, and polic...

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Dr. Angela Kairu is a medical doctor and health economist at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Health Economics Research Unit. Her work sits at the intersection of health financing, priority-setting, and policy, with a focus on translating evidence into real-world decision-making in African health systems. Her expertise spans health financing, economic evaluation, and health technology assessment, including the development of Kenya´s first national EQ-5D-5L value set. She has led and contributed to multi-country research and advisory work for global health institutions. With a background bridging clinical practice and health systems research, she brings a distinctive perspective on aligning patient realities with system-level decisions.
Jacob Kazungu

Jacob Kazungu

Associate Editor — Kenya

Dr. Kazungu is a research fellow in health economics and Co-lead of the Health Economics Research Unit (HERU) at KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme. He has expertise and research interest in heal...

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Dr. Kazungu is a research fellow in health economics and Co-lead of the Health Economics Research Unit (HERU) at KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme. He has expertise and research interest in health financing, equity analysis in healthcare, public health, climate change and health, economic evaluation & value for money assessment, costing, primary health care, primary care networks, vaccine economics, health technology assessment (HTA), AMR, health-related quality of life valuation, EQ-5D, maternal, newborn and child health, and using stated and revealed preference methods to improve health systems. I am also very keen on capacity-strengthening initiatives, primarily on health economics and health systems.



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