Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate

Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Nigeria. Before returning to Nigeria in 2023, he served as the World Bank's Global Director for Health, Nutrition and Population, leading its COVID-19 health response, and earlier held Nigeria's Ministry of State for Health from 2011 to 2013, where the polio eradication programme he led cut wild cases from over 800 to11. Maternal mortality reduction has been a priority under his leadership, with national health insurance coverage expanded to nearly 22 million Nigerians and over 4,000 free Caesarean sections delivered under Nigeria's Maternal and Neonatal Mortality Reduction Innovation Initiative. A robust national data framework, applied nationwide, anchors the Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative, revitalizing primary health care centres nationwide.