William Nyabola Okedi is a lecturer at the Alupe University College in Kenya, focusing on improving health systems, advance policy implementation, enhance water and sanitation provision and improve maternal child health of orphans and vulnerable children in Kenya
Mr. Okedi has over twenty years of health development experience in Eastern and Southern Africa. He is the former CEO of Kenya’s National Authority for the Campaign against Alcohol and Drug Abuse and he also served as Field Director for the HIV/AIDS Monitor research program of the Centre for Global Development, which covers Ethiopia, Mozambique, Zambia and Uganda.
Prior to this, Mr. Okedi was the former program officer for human development and reproductive health at the Ford Foundation Office for Southern Africa in Johannesburg, South Africa. He was also country director of the African Medical and Research Foundation in South Africa, during which time he established the AMREF office in Pretoria in 1995 and a field office in Maputo, Mozambique in 1998.
Mr. Okedi has expertise in program development and management, institutional development, strategic planning, training and facilitation and in evaluating community- based partnership programs. He also consulted for UNICEF in Zambia, Swaziland and South Africa, for the World Health Organization in Kenya, Zimbabwe and South Africa, as well for several NGOs in eastern and southern Africa. He has lectured part-time on community health and health promotion in both in Kenya and South Africa, and also serves on the Support Group of the Technical Review Panel of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.
Mr. Okedi holds a Master of Public Health degree from Glasgow University in Scotland and a Master’s degree in development studies from the University of the Free State in South Africa. He currently is continuing his doctoral studies in public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
In December 2007, Mr. Okedi was awarded the Head of State Commendation, one of Kenya’s highest national honors. Selected from among nominees in 242 districts, Mr. Okedi was honored for his exceptional leadership in mobilizing the community to create education opportunities for children from poor and marginalized groups. The award also recognized Mr. Okedi’s commitment to international health development in southern, eastern and central Africa.