Draft:Akinwumi Fajola

Dr. Akinwumi Fajola is a Public Health Medicine physician, specialist and business leader. He currently is the Health Manager-Community Health, at Shell Nigeria (SPDC JV).. . He leads and provides community health care support for communities in Nigeria and other Sub- Saharan African countries where Shell has its operations. A specialist in Public Health Medicine and Epidemiology, he has served as World Health Organization/NPI - N.I.D’s core consultant on immunization in Imo & Kano states of Nigeria and as In-Country coordinator (Nigeria) of the Institute of Human Virology, University of Maryland, Baltimore, now IHV Nigeria, under its University Technical Assistance Program (UTAP) where he supported the commencement of the HIV/AIDS PEPFAR program in collaboration with the Government of Nigeria and CDC gap Atlanta

He was former coordinator of the Ibarapa Primary Health Care program of the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan between 2003 and 2005.

Early Life and Education
Akinwumi was born in Ibadan, Nigeria at the University College Hospital, he hails from Ijebu jesa, Osun state. He attended The International School Ibadan(ISI) from 1983-1988 and proceeded to study Medicine and Surgery at the University of Ilorin from 1989-1997.

A MASHAV scholar, he bagged an International Master’s Degree in Public Health from the Braun School of Public Health & Community Medicine, Hebrew University (Hadassah), Jerusalem, Israel (iMPH in 2002). He received his Fellowship of the West African College of Physicians (FWACP) in Community Medicine (by examination in 2005), following his senior residency at the College of Medicine, University College Hospital, Ibadan. He has also been an examiner with the West African College.

He is a Fellow of the Faculty of Remote, Rural and Humanitarian Healthcare of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (FRRHHEd), a Fellow of the Royal Society of Public Health (UK), and has a Diploma in Health Systems Management from the Galilee International Management Institute, Israel.

‘Akin is an alumnus of the flagship course on health systems strengthening and sustainable financing of the World Bank Institute, facilitated by the Harvard (T.H. Chan) School of Public Health.

Akinwumi is a former Vice Chairman of the Association of Public Health Physicians of Nigeria (Rivers State Chapter).

He has attended management courses and has ongoing interests in renewable energy solutions & sustainability.

Career
He co-led the $2.2M Niger Delta HIV/AIDs response project (NIDAR), sponsored and catalyzed by Shell and delivered in partnership with Communities and FHI 360 between 2007 to 2008 which then transited to NiDAR plus 2008-2011 that delivered HIV care treatment and support services (PMTCT/HAART) to primary health care facilities in rural communities in 4 states of the Niger Delta.

Akinwumi co-led the Shell team in support of the national Ebola response in Rivers & Lagos state’s and serves as a member of the Emergency Operations Center (response and preparedness) in Rivers  state.

In 2019, he led Shell Nigeria's (SNEPCo) private sector support and donation of a state of the art Cancer Care LINAC Radiotherapy Machine including its bunker to the National Hospital, Abuja, Nigeria, which provided high end radiotherapy services to cancer patients and reduced treatment time, including costs of care ( including to indigent patients) for the Management of Cancer treatment cycles.

In 2020, he led Shell’s external COVID-19 (private sector) response in Nigeria, coordinating and collaborating with key stakeholders like the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Federal Ministry of Health, State governments and other partners, aiding the activation of 9 state COVID molecular laboratories in-country and improving testing capacity and efficiency.

He served as a member on the special committee on health - commissioned by former President Olusegun Obasanjos’ Centre for Human Security, that produced the document on “A new dawn for the Health Sector in Nigeria.

In 2022, Akin was inaugurated on the 15 member executive committee of Nigeria’s Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) for the management and oversight of Global Fund grants ($1billion: 2024-2026 cycle) for Nigeria’s health system for impact. He presently serves as the 2nd Vice Chairman of Nigeria’s CCM

In January 2023 he was honored to deliver the Isaac Ladipo Oluwole keynote lecture (address) at the 39th National General Meeting and Scientific conference of the Association of Public Health Physicians of Nigeria. In October of the same year, he delivered the key note at the Nigeria Medical Associations (Rivers state Branch) Physicians week. Dr Fajola delivered the inaugural address at the opening of the World Bank funded Africa Centre of Excellence in Public Health and Toxicological Research (PUTOR) at the University of Port Harcourt and serves as member of the academic advisory board. He is also board advisory member of the Nigerian Business Coalition against AIDS and the HIV/AIDS Trust Fund of Nigeria ( non profit private sector led support by Access Bank, Shell (SPDC JV), Dangote foundation, Total, Julius Berger plc amongst others)

Further Work, Interests and Personal Life
Using measurable data, he presently supports implementation of innovative public health, social investment and sustainable development initiatives that impact people and communities by partnering with governments, development partners, civil society and communities. One of this is a Shared Value initaitive- the model pilot Obio Community Health Insurance program in Nigeria being implemented in collaboration with the Rivers state government, Shell ( SPDC JV) and host communities.

He also serves as Business Opportunity Manager (BoM) for the $5Million Oloibiri Health Program, a local government wide comprehensive health and social determinants of health initiative catalyzed by Royal Dutch Shell and delivered in partnership with the Bayelsa state government and Ogbia local government, with technical support from the international finance cooperation (IFC) ; with the initiative delivering key sustainable development goal ( SDGs) targets.

He has co-developed value adding impact mitigation and social investment initiatives in Nigeria, Gabon and other operation hubs. Having worked in the Oil and gas industry for the last 2 decades, he understands the business of health, social investments, including access to health, impact management, emergency response and Non-technical risk management. Program sustainability & Change management are key elements he embeds into deliverables.

He has been presenter and keynote speaker at national and regional events, including international conferences and a Tedx event

Renewables
Akin is an advocate for sustainable renewable energy solutions and net zero emissions from fossil fuels.

He led the Shell Companies in Nigeria (SCiN) Clean cookstove initiative (A Shell Social Investment program) delivering the SCiN cookstove plan and led Shells team at the World Bank African Consultative Initiative (ACCI) forum (Accra), which had over 100 renewable energy development experts; with inputs into the ACCI framework. In concert with civil society and external stakeholders, he supported the successful launch of the Clean Cookstove Nigerian Alliance, providing impetus and strengthening for SCiN’s efforts in clean energy. He led SCINs team in executing the first Shell Clean cookstove awareness and exhibition day which provided an interactive platform for business interaction and opportunity platform for community, local and international entrepreneurs and clean cookstove manufacturers.

Akin serves as advisory board member of the World Bank funded African Center of Excellence in Public Health and Toxicological Research - at the University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria (ACE – PUTOR), and doubles as advisory board member of the Nigerian Business Coalition Against AIDS (NIBUCA) and the HIV trust of Nigeria.

Akin is a sports enthusiast and served on the board of the Cycling Federation of Nigeria between 2019-2021, where he supports development of youth cyclists/athletes. He also supports athletics and is a football fan.

Akinwumi is Married to Olamide and blessed with children.

An incurable optimist in Nigeria and Africa to the world.

Honors

 * Scholarship: A MASHAV scholar (under the aegis of Israel’s Agency for International development): He holds an International Master’s Degree in Public Health
 * Award for Community Service by the National Youth Service Corp(NYSC) - 1998; Certificate of Commendation on service project in Kaduna State; Health Education and Promotion project on “Unsafe Abortion and Sexually Transmitted Infections among In-School Youths”
 * Global Business Coalition Awards of Excellence for Collective Action & Partnership – for the “Niger Delta HIV/AIDS Response” project . 2010.
 * Community Health- Shell Chief Executives Award for Excellence in SP/HSSE for Obio Community Health Insurance Scheme. April 2012.

Publications
Dr. Fajola has about 30 research works published in peer reviewed journals, as abstracts and contributions to a book chapter. His areas of interest include data driven options in strengthening of health systems (across its building blocks), development of sustainable health care financing models (UHC) in resource limited settings (access to health), immunization against vaccine preventable diseases, remote health care, reproductive health & HIV/AIDS Epidemiology, including its care, treatment and support. He has work on lifestyles and health influences affecting road safety and more recent collaborative research work on the (Emergence and spread of SARS-CoV2 variants in Nigeria) - CoVID-19 disease, which was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.

He has done further work in renewable energy solutions and social determinants of health ( including the SDGs).