Nigeria’s former Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has been named Special Envoy by The World Health Organisation (WHO) for the newly inaugurated Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator.
According to Director-General of the organization, Tedros Ghebreyesus, who made the announcement during the launch of the ACT Accelerator from Geneva on Monday, she is to serve alongside British business executive, Sir Andrew Witty in the same capacity, to mobilize international commitment to the initiative.
“I would especially like to thank Sir Andrew Witty and Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala for agreeing to act as Special Envoys for the ACT Accelerator,” Ghebreyesus said in his remarks.
The initiative is an international collaboration aimed at accelerating the development, production, and equitable distribution of COVID-19 drugs, tests kits, and vaccines around the world. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that this is the fourth international assignment given to Okonjo-Iweala in less than two months.
Okonjo-Iweala is an internationally respected economist and development expert, who has served as Managing Director of the World Bank, among other assignments.