Biography

Who is Dr Kelechi Ohiri? The new Director-General of NHIA

Published

2 months ago

2024/02/22

Dr Kelechi Ohiri was on February 21, 2024 confirmed by Nigeria’s senate as the Director-General, National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) following President Bola Ahmed Tinubu request on February 14, 2024.

Who is Kelechi Ohiri?

Dr Kelechi Ohiri is a public health physician and health policy adviser. He is the Founder and Trustee of the Health Strategy and Delivery Foundation.

Education

Dr Kelechi Ohiri earned a Medical degree from the University of Lagos and master’s degrees in Public Health and Health Policy and Management from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

He was a Healthcare Management Fellow at Harvard and has worked as a primary care physician in various settings.

Summary

Master of Public Health, Harvard University
Master of Science in Health Policy and Management, Harvard University
Doctor of Medicine, University of Lagos

Career

Dr Ohiri served as Gavi’s Chief Strategy, Policy & Innovation Officer from 2020–2023. In this role, he oversees a portfolio that includes Gavi’s work on policy, vaccine programmes, health system & immunisation strengthening, and immunization financing & sustainability.

Before joining Gavi, Kelechi was Chief Executive Officer of Health Strategy and Delivery Foundation, an Africa-focused, not-for-profit public health advisory firm; and a visiting scientist at Harvard University.

He also co-founded both the Healthcare Leadership Academy which provides leadership and management training to clinicians and policymakers; and the Africa-focused social impact investment and advisory firm Flint Atlantic.

Kelechi served as senior adviser to two Ministers of Health and to a Minister of Finance; and he led the delivery of several large-scale programmes in the country, including the Saving One Million Lives initiative, and the design of the National Social Safety Net Program.

He was also an engagement manager with McKinsey and Company, where he served healthcare clients in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. His functional focus areas were private equity, strategy and organization design.

Dr Kelechi Ohiri was appointed Director-General and CEO of the National Health Insurance Agency by Nigerian President Bola Tinubu in October 2023.

Kelechi has previously served as a senior adviser to the two Ministers of Health and one minister of Finance.

The National Health Insurance Scheme was legislatively revamped in 2022 to operate as public/private partnership and directed at providing accessible, affordable and qualitative healthcare for all Nigerians.

He is also a visiting scientist at the Harvard University, a Desmond Tutu Fellow of the African Leadership Initiative, and member of the Aspen Global Leadership network.

At the time of starting the Fellowship in 2013, he was Special Adviser to the Minister of Finance of Nigeria and had served as a senior adviser to two ministers of health in Nigeria.

Kelechi is a Fellow of the fifth class of the Africa Leadership Initiative-West Africa and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

He has served on a number of global expert advisory panels for several international organizations, including the Institute of Medicine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Bank and the WHO.

Dr Ohiri has over 15 years’ experience in the healthcare sector spanning clinical medicine, consultancy and advisory in the public and private sectors.