Justice Nonvignon CV- Click Here!
I am Justice Nonvignon, Technical Director for Health Economics and Financing at Management Sciences for Health (MSH) and Professor of Health Economics at the University of Ghana’s School of Public Health. I previously headed the Division of Health Economics and Financing at the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), a specialized agency of the African Union. I also serve as Adjunct Professor at Duke University’s Global Health Institute, University of Strathclyde Business School (UK), and Public Health Foundation of India. I hold BA (Hons) in Economics from the University of Cape Coast (Ghana), MA in Economics from the University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), and PhD in Public Health (Health Economics) from the University of Ghana.
Over nearly two decades, I have contributed extensively to teaching, mentorship, and service in health economics, having taught 500+ graduate public health students, mentored 70+ from across continents, and served on over 30 institutional and international committees, including the Steering Committee of the Global Health Economics Centre at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
As a member of the International Health Economics Association (IHEA) for 18 years, I have consistently demonstrated commitment to advancing health economics globally and especially Africa. At my first IHEA congress, in 2007, I was invited by then Executive Director Professor Tom Getzen and President Professor Jane Hall to join the Regional Councils Meeting focused on expanding the Association’s reach in LMICs. That engagement catalyzed my involvement in founding of the African Health Economics and Policy Association (AfHEA), where I helped organize its inaugural conference in 2009.
I have served on IHEA’s Scientific Committee since 2013 (Program Chair since 2021), and the Professional Development Subcomiittee contributing to the Association’s mentoring program. At Africa CDC, I spearheaded efforts to link health economics research and policy, engaging ministries of health and finance across African Union Member States to identify solutions to evidence-to-policy gaps. I led the development of two continental frameworks to institutionalize the use of health economics evidence and provided technical assistance to countries to strengthen the integration of economic analysis in health policy decisions.
As a candidate for IHEA Board Director for Africa, my aim is to deepen and sustain the Association’s impact across the continent through three priorities:
- Strengthen graduate training and capacity development in health economics by collaborating with AfHEA and academic partners to enhance curriculum design, promote mentoring, and develop distance and short-course programs accessible to policymakers and practitioners.
- Bridge the academia-policy divide to ensure research evidence better informs decision-making. Drawing on my Africa CDC experience, I seek to connect academic institutions with policy actors to co-develop responsive, evidence-driven policy frameworks, working with AfHEA.
- Amplify African voices in global health economics, championing the inclusion of African voices, particularly early-career researchers, in global health and financing reforms that shape the continent’s future.
Through these efforts, I aim to foster an inclusive, evidence-driven, and policy-responsive health economics community that advances both the discipline and its application to Africa’s evolving health systems.