Ms. Akhona Tshangela is a public health professional with over 15 years of service. She has successfully implemented and lead programs at both national and continental level, demonstrating exceptional expertise in dealing with complex public health issues and contextualising these to the African continent. She was one of the pioneer staff for the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, under the African Union, and has supported in the strengthening of Africa’s health systems through leading programs such as regional health product manufacturing and ensuring during the joint African COVID-19 response that decision making was informed by the available science and data at the time by co-chairing the science, regulations and standards technical working group. She has worked closely with several international and local partners including the private sector in shaping policy and garnering political and financial support at the most highest decision making levels.
She is a trained field epidemiologist and has supported a number of outbreak responses across the continent having obtained her Masters in Public Health from the University of Pretoria and her Bachelors of Science in Medicine (Honours) degree in Human Genetics at the University of Cape Town. Ms. Akhona joins the WomenLift Health team as the Southern Africa director with a strong passion for inclusivity and a steadfast belief that public health is missing out on an integral leadership resource by mostly limiting females, especially, in major decision making on public health issues.
