Robert Kwame deGraft Agyarko

Mr. Robert Agyarko joined the African Risk Capacity (ARC), a specialized Agency of the African Union, in 2016 from the WHO AFRO Health Security and Emergencies Programme where he briefly led the work on Strategic Planning, Resource Mobilization and Partnerships. Robert currently coordinates the Outbreaks and Epidemics (O&E) project of ARC, this is a parametric insurance product being developed by the African Union through ARC. Funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the product aims to provide coverage for disease outbreaks, to enable and incentivise early country-led response, it is designed to trigger early, at the first stages of a country-level outbreak so that pre-defined contingency plans can be launched quickly for action to stop the spread of outbreaks. The product focuses on an initial set of diseases including Ebola, Marburg, Lassa Fever and Meningococcal meningitis. Agyarko has over 20 years of international experience in development and public health and has served in management and coordination roles with national and international organizations. These include; Coordinator at the Centre for the Development of People, Ghana (1993-98), the Participatory Analysis Coordinator, HelpAge International,UK (1998 -1999) Lead researcher WHO HQ’s Ageing and Life Course project on “Impact of HIV/AIDS on older persons” (1999-2003, Geneva), Coordinator, WHO AFRO’s Regional Malaria technical support team (2003-2007, Zimbabwe); Global Fund portfolio manager for South Africa and Namibia (2007-2009, based in Geneva); UNICEF WCARO Malaria Advisor (2009-2010, Dakar). He also has high-level advocacy experience with the African Leaders Malaria Alliance Secretariat (2010-2012). In 2015 he served as the Coordinator and Technical Advisor to the Incident Commander/Deputy Minister at the Ghana Public Health Emergency Operations Center. Robert is a Chevening Scholar, who holds a Master’s degree in Rural Development from the University of Sussex and is an Independent Study Fellow of the School of Development Studies (IDS). He has undertaken courses including certificate courses in epidemiology and bio-statistics at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and in disaster/emergency planning and management.