Akhona Tshangela

Akhona Tshangela has more than 13 years of experience in public health in the laboratory, implementation of public health programs, surveillance and data management. She is currently the program coordinator for Partnerships for African Vaccine Manufacturing at the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC). She joined the Africa CDC in 2016 as one of the first staff members and played a critical role in pioneering the Africa CDC and supporting the development of its first programs. During the COVID-19 response, she co-chaired the Science, regulations and standards technical working group under the COVID-19 continental joint strategy for Africa, supporting Member States with making science-based policy decisions. She also led the knowledge management platforms for the COVID-19 response and was part of the Steering Committee for the COVID-19 Clinical Research Coalition. Prior to working for the Africa CDC, she worked for the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in South Africa with a focus on respiratory pathogens.