Our Board
Our Board of Directors brings together advocates and leaders with expertise spanning public health, economics, development, and community organising. Serving voluntarily, they provide strategic direction and oversight, and hold WACI Health accountable to its mission.
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Evaline Kibuchi
Board ChairEvaline Kibuchi is the Chief National Coordinator, Stop TB Partnership-Kenya. She is the Africa TB Caucus Regional Director. Evaline has over a decade of experience in advocacy in public health…Evaline Kibuchi is the Chief National Coordinator, Stop TB Partnership-Kenya. She is the Africa TB Caucus Regional Director. Evaline has over a decade of experience in advocacy in public health with demonstrated commitment to reducing the burden of public health issues in Africa and globally through advocacy. She is an expert in public health policy advocacy, communication and social mobilization, media engagement, coalitions & partnership and community engagement.
She also has a keen interest in global health financing. She is a member of the Africa Health Platform, an outfit that advocates for domestic financing for health in Africa. She has been an ardent advocate for increased investment to health through Global Fund and domestic finances.
She brings with her a great network of Members of Parliament both from the region and globally as the coordinator of the Parliamentary TB Caucus and a member of the secretariat of the global TB Parliamentary Caucus. She was instrumental in establishing the first ever National TB Caucus in Africa which led to the formation of the Africa TB Caucus. She is a board member of the AIDS Health Foundation (AHF).
She is a Sociology graduate from University of Nairobi and holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Journalism and Mass Communication from the same university. She is currently pursuing a Masters in Public Health (MPH).
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Dudu Simelane
Board MemberDudu is an Independent Development Practitioner and the immediate past Director of Social and Human Development at the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Secretariat. In this role, she was responsible…Dudu is an Independent Development Practitioner and the immediate past Director of Social and Human Development at the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Secretariat. In this role, she was responsible for overseeing a wide scope of development programmes including Health and Nutrition, HIV and AIDS, Youth Development, Education and Skills Development and Employment.
Prior to joining SADC, Dudu was the Head of Strategy and Organisational Development at the IPPF Africa Regional Office in Nairobi, Kenya. She has also served as Team Leader: East and Southern Africa at the IPPF Africa Regional Office where she was in charge of East and Southern Africa programmes.
Before joining IPPF, Dudu worked at the International HIV/AIDS Alliance (now known as Frontline AIDS) in Brighton UK. She has served as the Executive Director of the Family Life Association of Swaziland (FLAS), the IPPF affiliate in Swaziland, and has also worked as Director of Programs/Deputy Executive Director at FLAS. Earlier in her career, she served with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), working as the Special Assistant to the UN Resident Coordinator in Swaziland where she was responsible for the coordination of UN Joint Programs in the UN system in Swaziland. She has also worked in various capacities in the NGO sector in Eswatini.
Dudu holds a Masters in Development Studies from the University of South Africa, a Post Graduate Diploma in Economic and Social Studies from the University of Manchester’s Institute of Development Policy and Management (IDPM) in the UK as well as a BA in Social Sciences from the University of Eswatini.
She serves on several NGO boards, including for WACI Health, and supports other nonprofits such as the Africa Renaissance Trust. She is also a member of Women Lift Health Leadership and Mentorship Initiative, where she serves as a Mentor to a cohort of upcoming women leaders in health in Southern Africa.
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Ida Jooste
Board MemberIda Jooste, is an independent health and science journalist, consultant media trainer and seasoned manager with over 30 years’ experience.Ida Jooste, is an independent health and science journalist, consultant media trainer and seasoned manager with over 30 years’ experience.
Ida is the winner of some twenty international and national media awards, recognition of her deep and long-standing journalistic specialisation in HIV science, sexual and reproductive health rights and gender-related health issues, science literacy and science and crisis communication.
She has been in leadership positions of newsrooms and media development projects since 1996. She has served as the Global Health Advisor at Internews and has played a leading role in the organisation’s COVID-19 pivot and health literacy work with media partners, helping them make meaning of fast-moving science for their audiences, to produce impactful narratives and to counter misinformation. Prior to this, she was Internews’ Country Director at the Kenya Health Media project, where she led an HIV media training programme, introduced conflict sensitive journalism and she and team pioneered data journalism initiatives and training programs forefronting human rights freedom of expression and accountability in Kenya.
Ida’s experience as a journalist in various parts of Africa has resulted in her having an innate understanding of intercultural communications and local-global dialogue. Her own journalism has focused on governance issues, corruption, transparency, human rights, health/HIV and investigative and analytical storytelling aimed at better educating the public and ensuring the voices of citizens are heard.
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Itai Rusike
Board MemberItai Rusike is a public health activist with over 20 years experience organizing involvement of communities in health actions in Zimbabwe. He is the Executive Director of the Community Working…Itai Rusike is a public health activist with over 20 years experience organizing involvement of communities in health actions in Zimbabwe. He is the Executive Director of the Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) in Zimbabwe. He joined the organization at its inception in early 1998 and rose through the ranks from a Field Officer to Health Education Officer to Programme Manager and senior leadership.
Itai is the immediate past Deputy-Chairperson of the Public Health Advisory Board in Zimbabwe, a member of the National Steering Committee for the National Health Strategy 2026-2030, National Steering Committee Member of the Health Financing Technical Working Group, Chairperson of the Zimbabwe GFF CSO Coalition Sexual Reproductive Maternal Neonatal Child and Adolescent Health (SRMNCH-A). Itai also serves as a member of the National Validation Committee for the Elimination of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV and Syphilis (EMTCT) in Zimbabwe.
He is a Steering Committee member of the Global Fund Advocates Network Africa (GFAN Africa), Vice-President of the Medicus Mundi International Network (MMI) and the Chairperson for the People’s Health Movement Zimbabwe. Itai was in the first Advisory Group for the UHC2030 Civil Society Engagement Mechanism (CSEM), and coordinator of the African Civil Society Network for Universal Health Coverage (AP-UHC). He was also in the first Zimbabwe National AIDS Council Board (Disbursement Committee). He is a UHC Day Champion 2025.
Itai has produced several publications on Social Participation, Health Governance and Public Accountability. He holds tertiary level qualifications in Health Financing, Community Journalism, and Research Methods.
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Mike Podmore
Board MemberMike Podmore has two decades’ experience in convening civil society and securing impact on HIV, health and human rights at global, regional and national levels.Mike Podmore has two decades’ experience in convening civil society and securing impact on HIV, health and human rights at global, regional and national levels.
Since 2015, Mike has been CEO of UK-based advocacy network STOPAIDS which seeks to end AIDS and secure health and wellbeing for all globally. Mike led STOPAIDS to become the first charity in the UK to introduce the four-day week in 2019 and in 2022 led the organisation to develop its Anti-oppression Framework that drives everything STOPAIDS does.
Mike has over a decade of experience in organisational governance and representing civil society constituencies in global multilateral boards, including four years as a Board Member and Strategy Committee member of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
Mike is currently a trustee of Stamp Out Poverty and WACI Health; a Steering Committee member of Action For Global Health UK and the Global Public Investment Network; and a co-founder of the Digital Health Rights Project, the Inclusive Global Health Institutions Project, the Health Impact Coalition and the Global Parliamentary Platform on HIV. Most recently, he co-founded the HEAR CSO Consortium which has run global, regional and national consultations with civil society and communities around the world on the future of the global health architecture.
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Rosemary Mburu
Secretariat to the BoardBased in Nairobi, Kenya, Rosemary Mburu is a global health advocate and civil society leader in Africa, dedicated to building political will for improved health outcomes across the continent. Her…Based in Nairobi, Kenya, Rosemary Mburu is a global health advocate and civil society leader in Africa, dedicated to building political will for improved health outcomes across the continent. Her expertise spans conducting policy analysis, garnering political support for health, influencing decision-making processes, mobilizing civil society and community voices for action, and promoting good participatory practices in clinical trials.
Rosemary has extensively worked on supporting civil society to engage with decision-makers at community, national, regional, and global levels. She is a civil society organizer working on building and strengthening civil society networks and platforms for health-related advocacy and campaigning in Africa.
She builds spaces that facilitate African civil society’s leadership in global health and works to create political will towards improved health outcomes for all in Africa by engaging with governments, key multilateral and bilateral institutions, and other decision-makers.
Rosemary has served in various capacities within the global health architecture. She currently represents Eastern and Southern Africa on the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund Civil Society Policy Forum (CSPF) Working Group. She is also a member of the Health Works Leaders Coalition. Previously, she was on the UHC2030 Steering Committee as a CSO representative, the UNITAID Communities Advisory Group, GAVI CSO Steering Committee, and the Vaccine Advocacy Resource Group (VARG). She has also served as an advisor for the Lancet Commission on a synergistic approach to universal health coverage, health security, and health promotion; and the WHO Advisory Group for SDG3 Global Action Plan R&D, Innovation and Access Accelerator.
In 2026, Rosemary was named on the Time100 Health List, an annual ranking of the 100 most influential individuals transforming the global health landscape.
Rosemary is a Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) candidate in Public Health and Leadership at the University of North Carolina. She holds a Master of Public Health (MPH) from Ohio University, a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Frostburg State University, and a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) from Kenyatta University.
Independent oversight, given freely.
06 seats around the table, including the Secretariat
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01
Strategic direction
The Board sets the direction WACI Health works towards and approves the strategy that carries it.
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02
Oversight
It reviews how the organisation is run, bringing expertise spanning public health, economics, development and community organising.
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03
Accountability
It holds WACI Health accountable to its mission, and its members serve voluntarily.
The team that does the work.
The Board sets the direction. The secretariat and programme teams carry it across the continent, every day.