TEAM | insighthealth

Our Team

Dr. Nelson Gitonga

He is a recognized leader and expert in the region on health systems management and strengthening focusing on; health policy and regulatory reforms, healthcare financing, supply chain strengthening, healthcare infrastructure and public-private partnerships in health.

He is the founder and CEO of IHA Ltd, a health systems management firm working in various Sub-Saharan African countries and headquartered in Kenya. His primary goal is to increase access to quality and affordable healthcare through deployment of innovative interventions at the health system level that catalyze change and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the health system in delivering care. His approach is based on building strong partnerships
with both the public and private sectors and with various local and international actors
in health.

In recent years, Dr. Gitonga has applied his Kenya experience to other countries in the region – Ethiopia, Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda – in technical areas such as public and private health insurance, micro-insurance and vouchers. Also, he has participated in
several private sector assessments (Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi).

Dr. Gitonga has been the technical lead partner to Cardno Emerging Markets in the DFID funded PSP4H program that worked to facilitate the development and implementation of market approaches to address healthcare delivery access and quality gaps and value for money for low income consumers. Key market interventions developed include the Pharmnet pharmacy network and Afya Poa micro insurance
scheme among others.

He started his career in clinical practice and worked in both government and private healthcare services for 8 years before transitioning to healthcare management. He holds an MBChB from the University of Nairobi Kenya, a Postgraduate Diploma in Health
Systems Management from the University of London and is an alumnus of the IESE/Strathmore Business Schools Advanced Management Programme.

Ms. Barbara O’Hanlon

She is a recognized leader in international health policy and implementation with over 27 years’ experience in creating favorable policy environments
for strategic health issues such as increased private sector role in health and promoting systems reforms to strengthen the overall health sector.

Ms. O’Hanlon core competencies are legal and regulatory analysis, policy design and formulation, advocacy and policy communication, data use for policy and programming and capacity building – all with the focus of strengthening the private sector role and contribution in health. Ms. O’Hanlon is pioneering technical assistance approaches to build Ministry of Health capacity to engage the private sector using a variety of policy instruments such as policy dialogue, contracting and financial mechanisms to forge public-private partnerships.

In the last ten years, she has assisted and trained several African MOHs (15 African countries) to conduct private health sector assessments, analyze key health markets for private sector potential, draft Health PPP Policies, establish PPP Units, and implement health services PPPs and trained in advocacy/strategic communication (over 30 in all regions of the developing world). She has also facilitated public-private dialogue processes (Kenya, Malawi and Tanzania).

Ms. O’Hanlon places a strong emphasis on building capacity. Her geographic experience spans several geographic regions including Latin American and the Caribbean, East and Southern Africa, the Middle East and Former Soviet Republics and Central Asia.

Ms. O’Hanlon has a M.P.P. from the John F. Kennedy School of Public Policy at Harvard University.

Mr. Robert Okumu

He is an experienced Development Practitioner with over 11 years of professional experience in implementing projects covering such diverse development issues such as public health, privatisation and governance, human resources for health, water and sanitation, education, food security and livelihoods. Mr. Okumu’s core skills include project design and implementation, program management and coordination and capacity training and facilitation. He excels at building mutually respectful relationships,
he has developed and sustained exceptional partnerships and networks and have earned the respect of a wide variety of stakeholders in five countries of Africa. Currently, Mr. Okumu is IHA Uganda’s team member responsible for building the Uganda Healthcare Federations’ capacity to represent the private health sector in policy dialogue. Before
joining IHA, he worked with a diverse range of Ugandan and international organizations

Ms. Angellah Nakyanzi

She has over 5 years’ experience in working with the private health sector and the USAID projects in the areas of HIV/AIDS, maternal and child health, and population and reproductive health. Ms. Nakyanzi currently works as the IHA seconded staff on the USAID/Uganda Private Health Support Program as a Private Sector Policy Program Coordinator. In this capacity, she manages different work portfolios that include working with the Ministry of Health, its PPPH node, the regulatory councils and private sector associations.

Prior to joining IHA, she worked as the Coordinator/Administrator for the Uganda Healthcare
Federation. Ms. Nakyanzi has a bachelor’s degree in Development Economics and a MSc. in Population and Reproductive Health from Makerere University, Uganda.

Dr. Ambrose A. Nyangao

He is a trained medical doctor with post graduate training on health systems management and a post graduate diploma in Global Sustainable Social Entrepreneurship (GSSE).

He has vast experience in health systems delivery in the private sector especially in health financing. Ambrose has been a practitioner and an administrator, in hospitals and held senior management positions in health insurance sector. Over the last ten years Dr Nyangao has been in
the private insurance market where he has been involved in health insurance product design, administration and evaluation.

He provides technical assistance to various program interventions including an innovative low cost health insurance product targeting the informal sector, the use of technology in commercial setting to reduce cost of healthcare and the use of existing table banking social groups to encourage saving for healthcare. Other areas of work include research in health seeking behaviour, health policy and Public Private Partnership (PPP).