Monrovia-Emmanuel Tieh Delamy has assumed the role as the Country Coordinator for
Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI) -to Coordinate GHAI Primary health Care and Immunization Budget Advocacy Program in Liberia.
By J.H. Webster Clayeh (0886729972)[email protected]
GHAI newly appointed Country Coordinator is a development professional with over 15 years of experience in both the public and private sectors in Liberia.
He is specialized in health care financing, financial management, policy analysis, project management, and capacity building.
Before joining GHAI, Delamy served four years as Health Financing Advisor for USAID-Liberia’s Collaborative Support for Health (CSH) Program, leading and supporting the Ministry of Health’s post-Ebola healthcare financing reform – “LiberiaHealth Equity Fund (LHEF)” -in the areas of resource mobilization, costing the Essential Package for Health Services (EPHS), policy studies and analysis.
He’s currently serving as Joint Learning Agenda (JLA) Training of Trainers in Liberia on Health Financing and Universal Health Coverage (UHC), Conducting in country training, supporting and advancing Civil Society Organizations CSOs advocacy for health Financing, right to health, transparency and accountability and domestic resource mobilization for health.
The newly appointed GHAI Coordinator previously worked as a Technical Advisor at the Liberia Special Economic Zones Authority(LSEZA), where he led feasibility studies, zone development, Financial andEconomic analysis for investment.
Prior to that, he spends eight years working as a Financial Management Consultant with two World Bank-funded projects in Liberia and building Public Financial Management Capacity.
He holds an MPH in Public Health and MBA in Finance, complemented by extensive training in health economics, and health financing, Financial and project management, and taxation from Harvard University, Kennedy School of Governance Executive Education, Duke University, Centre for International Development (DCID) and African Institute of management(AIM)
The GlobalHealth Advocacy Incubator (GHAI) is a Washington-based global organization that focuses on various public health issues, including immunization, civilregistration vital statistics, and health systems strengthening.
Speaking with FrontPage Africa, GHAI Country Coordinator said GHAI is working in over 60 countries, partnering with government and non-government organizations.
“In Liberia, we are working on six issues that align with the Ministry of Health. The immunization, epidemic preparedness, and healthy food policy,” Delamy said.
He added: “Increase domestic resource mobilization, Improve timely flow of funds to the frontlines, Improve the tracking of public expenditure on PHC and immunization, Ensure timely payment of Gavico-financing obligations• Ensure new Gavi-supported vaccines areintroduced, Strengthen the accountability of national andsub-national governments for reducing the number of zero-dose children and increasing immunization coverage.”
GHAI is part of the Gavi Primary Health Care and Immunization Budget Advocacy Initiative, which aims to mobilize collective actions toward sustainable immunization and primary health care financing in participating countries.
Gavi has selected Liberia to be part of the cohort of 10 African countries benefiting from technical assistance in advocacy for sustainable immunization financing.
“Our engagement in Liberia aims to engage both government and stakeholders to mobilize more domestic resources to strengthen the sustainability of long-term financing of Liberia National Immunization Strategy.
GHAI has worked with a local civil society organization partner in Liberia. GHAI history is rooted in one of the most successful global public health campaigns— the fight against tobacco use.
In 1996, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids was created to take on the tobacco industryand advocate for proven policies to reduce tobacco use.
The goal is to protect children and save lives from the #1 cause of preventable death. Since then, Tobacco-Free Kids has worked with partners to help prevent millions of premature deaths from tobacco in the United States and around the world.
Through strategic advocacy, Tobacco-Free Kids built a model for strengthening campaigns to address other critical public health challenges across the globe.
To leverage that proven model on a global scale, Tobacco-Free Kids launched the Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI) in 2014.
GHAI builds upon the decades of experience working with civil society organizations across public health issues and political systems to change policies and save lives.
“We have stood up against powerful industries and overwhelming political opposition. And despite the odds, we have won. Better still, we’re just getting started. GHAI and our global network of partners use the power of advocacy to save lives and create healthier futures,” Delamy said.
He added: “We partner with local civil society, governments and other stakeholders to drive public health progress through policy change. Tackling the world’s most pressing public health challenges requires strategic advocacy to pass evidence-based policies and to increase and sustain funding.”
Delamy furthers that his institution has spent the last 10 years working alongside civil society organizations to achieve health policy victories covering more than 4 billion people in 32 countries around the world.
“Across arange of health issues, GHAI supports the capacity of our local partners -to lead and sustain powerful advocacy movements. We provide our partners with direct, systematic, ongoing technical assistance, building their advocacy capabilities,” he explained.
Delamy added: “We continuously evaluate the efficacy of our approach, developing best practices that can be shared with partners, within and across issues and countries.”
“Our team is focused on advocacy for long-lasting, life-saving health policy changes. Why? Because a change in policy at the country and local level has population-wide effects on health, is cost-effective and can drive long-lasting changes to social norms,” GHAI Country Coordinator said.
