Muhammad Ali Pate (born 6 September 1968) is a Nigerian

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

who is the current Minister of Health and Social Welfare of Nigeria since 2023. He's also a professor of the Practice of Public Health Leadership in the Department of Global Health and Population at Harvard University. He formerly served as the Global Director for Health, Nutrition and Population and director of the

Global Financing Facility The Global Financing Facility was launched at the Financing for Development Conference in Addis Ababa in July 2015 by the United Nations and the World Bank as part of an effort to achieve goal three of the Sustainable Development Goals, Good health ...

for Women, Children and Adolescents (GFF) at the

World Bank Group The World Bank Group (WBG) is a family of five international organizations that make leveraged loans to developing countries. It is the largest and best-known development bank in the world and an observer at the United Nations Development Grou ...

. Pate is also the former Minister of State for Health in

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. On Tuesday, 11 October 2022, Pate, along with

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (; born 13 June 1954) is a Nigerian economist, who has been serving as the Director-General of the World Trade Organization since March 2021. Notably, she is the first woman and first African to lead the World Trade Organiza ...

, and

Amina J. Mohammed Amina Jane Mohammed (born 27 June 1961) is a Nigerian-British diplomat and politician who is serving as the fifth Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations. Previously, she was Nigerian Minister of Environment from 2015 to 2016 and was ...

were conferred with Nigeria's national honours. Pate was conferred with Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON). Earlier in 2019, Pate was appointed Julio Frenk Professor of Public Health Leadership at the

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is the public health school of Harvard University, located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. The school grew out of the Harvard-MIT School for Health Officers, the nation's first ...

. Pate was also the former Minister of Health in Nigeria. His appointment in July 2011 followed his role as the executive director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency in

Abuja Abuja () is the capital and eighth most populous city of Nigeria. Situated at the centre of the country within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), it is a planned city built mainly in the 1980s based on a master plan by International Plann ...

. He resigned as Nigeria's minister of State for Health effective 24 July 2013 to take up the position of professor in Duke University's Global Health Institute, USA. He is formerly the chief executive officer of Big Win Philanthropy and an adjunct professor of Global Health of the

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

Global Health Institute. On 1 September 2021, Pate returned to

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

as a Julio Frenk Professor of the Practice of Public Health Leadership at the

. In February 2023, Muhammad Ali Pate was appointed chief executive officer of

GAVI GAVI, officially Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (previously the GAVI Alliance, and before that the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization) is a public–private global health partnership with the goal of increasing access to immunization ...

, the Vaccine Alliance, which works to provide vaccines in low-income countries.

Early life and education

Muhammad Ali Pate was born on 6 September 1968 in the present day

Misau Misau is a Local Government Area of Bauchi State, Nigeria. Its headquarters are in the town of Misau. It was founded by Hamman Mangan who ruled as an unofficial King for a period of 25 years at around 1850 AD. It has an area of 1,226 km and ...

local government area of

Bauchi State Bauchi State (Fula: ''Leydi Bauchi'' 𞤤𞤫𞤴𞤣𞤭 𞤦𞤢𞤵𞤷𞥅𞤭) is a state in the North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered by Kano and Jigawa to the north, Taraba and Plateau to the south, Gombe and Yobe to the ea ...

in Nigeria and was raised in the northern part of the country. He is the son of a

fulani herdsman The Fula, Fulani, or Fulɓe people ( ff, Fulɓe, ; french: Peul, links=no; ha, Fulani or Hilani; pt, Fula, links=no; wo, Pël; bm, Fulaw) are one of the largest ethnic groups in the Sahel and West Africa, widely dispersed across the region. ...

. The first in his family to complete a secondary school education, Pate graduated from high school to enter the

Ahmadu Bello University Ahmadu Bello University Zaria is a federal government research university in Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria. ABU was founded on 4 October 1962, as the pioneer university in Northern Nigeria. It was founded and named after the Sardauna of Sokoto, Al ...

(ABU) medical school in

Kaduna Kaduna is the capital city of Kaduna State, and the former political capital of Northern Region, Nigeria, Northern Nigeria. It is located in north-western Nigeria, on the Kaduna River. It is a trade Centre and a major transportation hub as the ...

State, Nigeria. He graduated from ABU and moved to the Gambia where he worked in rural hospitals for a few years. He then became a fellow in infectious diseases at the

University of Rochester Medical Center The University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC), now known as UR Medicine, is located in Rochester, New York, is one of the main campuses of the University of Rochester and comprises the university's primary medical education, research and pat ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. He is an American Board-Certified MD in both Internal medicine and

Infectious diseases An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dise ...

, with an MBA (Health Sector Concentration) from

, USA. Prior to this he studied at the

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

. He also has a Masters in Health System Management from the

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is a public research university in Bloomsbury, central London, and a member institution of the University of London that specialises in public health and tropical medicine. The inst ...

, UK.

Early career

Prior to his appointment to the NPHCDA in 2008, Pate had an extensive career spanning over 10 years at the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

and held several senior positions including Senior Health Specialist and Human Development Sector Coordinator for the East Asia/Pacific Region and Senior Health Specialist for the African Region. While at the World Bank, a major project led by Pate was the far-reaching health sector reform programmes in Africa,

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...

and other regions of the World Bank. Of note is his initiation of landmark

Public–private partnership A public–private partnership (PPP, 3P, or P3) is a long-term arrangement between a government and private sector institutions.Hodge, G. A and Greve, C. (2007), Public–Private Partnerships: An International Performance Review, Public Administ ...

to replace a National Referral Hospital in Lesotho.

Other board, commission, and committee memberships

• Co-chair (along with Margaret Kruk), The Lancet Global Health Commission on High Quality Health Systems. Report was launched on September 6, 2018 • Member, Lancet Commission on Malaria Eradication -ongoing • Member, Lancet Commission on the Future of Health in Sub-Saharan Africa (report 09/2017) • Member, Independent Monitoring Board of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative • Board member, American International Health Alliance, Washington D.C. 2015–2022 • Board member, Aceso Global, Washington DC 2015–2022 • Board member, Healthcare Leadership Academy • Member, Investment Committee, Flint Atlantic Capital • Member, Steering Committee on the Value of Vaccination Research Network, Harvard University • Member, Steering Committee, Study on the Assessment of the Impact of Polio Eradication on Routine Immunization and Primary Health Care, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, 2011–2012 • Editorial advisory board, BMJ Global Health • Advisory Board member, Ethiopian International Primary Health Care Institute • Senior Fellow of the Nigeria Leadership Initiative (NLI), Inducted at Yale University, New Haven Connecticut, April 2015 • Co-chair, Private Sector Health Alliance of Nigeria

Recognition

* 2012 – Harvard Health Leader, awarded by the Harvard Ministerial Leadership Program

Personal life

Pate is married and has four daughters and two sons. He resides in northern Nigeria. He is a practicing

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

. Pate holds the equivalent of a knighthood title as "Chigarin Misau" from the

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

where he was born.

Recent publications

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Book chapters and technical reports

* Baris, E., Silverman, R., Wang, H., Zhao, F., Pate, M., Walking the Talk: Reimagining Primary Healthcare in the post-COVID-19 era. Published by the World Bank, April 2022. * Liam Donaldson, Thomas Frieden, Susan Goldstein, Muhammad Pate. Every virus. 17th Report of the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). June 2021. * Liam Donaldson, Thomas Frieden, Susan Goldstein, Muhammad Pate. Every virus. 16th Report of the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). June 2019. * Liam Donaldson, Thomas Frieden, Susan Goldstein, Muhammad Pate. Every virus. 15th Report of the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). June 2018. * Liam Donaldson, Thomas Frieden, Susan Goldstein, Muhammad Pate. Every virus. 14th Report of the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). June 2017. * Emmanuel Jimenez and Muhammad Pate. Reaping a Demographic Dividend in Africa's Largest Country: Nigeria. In: Hans Groth & John F. May, eds. "Africa's Population: In Search of a Demographic Dividend", Dordrecht: Springer Publishers, 2017 (ISBN 978-3-319-46887-7). * Muhammad Pate. Contributor to "The Art and Science of Delivery": McKinsey's Voices on Society, Published 2013 in honor of the 10th Anniversary of the Skoll World Forum. * * * Pate M.A., Beeharry G., Abramson W. Improving health care access for the poor: A case study of the Washington, D.C. public health care reforms. Presented at the 4th Europe and the Americas conference on health sector reforms, February 2002, Malaga, Spain.

External links

Personal website: https://muhammadpate.com Lancet Global Health Commission profile: https://www.hqsscommission.org/people/muhammad-a-pate/

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pate, Muhammad Ali Federal ministers of Nigeria Nigerian civil servants Nigerian public health doctors Alumni of University College London Alumni of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Duke University alumni 1968 births Living people 20th-century Nigerian medical doctors 21st-century Nigerian medical doctors