Dr. Paulin Basinga serves as the Foundation’s country director for Nigeria, where he leads a growing team in the development and execution of the country plan, which fulfills the foundation’s programmatic priorities in Nigeria. His work involves complex coordination across the foundation’s divisions and programs. As such, he acts as the principal Nigerian liaison with key program leads and program strategy teams (PSTs) in Seattle.
Before joining the foundation in 2012, Dr. Basinga served as Deputy Director in charge of Research and Consultancies at the National University of Rwanda’s School of Public Health. There, he spent years designing, implementing and evaluating public health interventions for HIV, TB and maternal and child health. He also led research into ways to strengthen the country’s health systems.
Dr. Basinga joined the foundation as a senior program officer on the HIV team (under the Global Health program). He worked on the HIV Efficiency and Effectiveness Initiative, where he led the development and execution of strategies to make the foundation’s HIV investments more efficient and effective. In June 2013, he joined the newly formed Integrated Delivery team as a senior program officer, developing and managing a portfolio of investments in community and child health.
In 2015, Dr. Basinga went for a year-long secondment to the Ministry of Health in Rwanda. Working with Rwanda Biomedical Center (RBC), he supported efforts to maximize data use for decision making, and developing the Rwanda Health sustainability plan. Upon returning to Seattle, he served as deputy director in the Integrated Delivery team’s Country Primary Healthcare Initiative. The initiative focused on integrating primary health care to provide treatment, prevention, and other essential services in Ethiopia and Nigeria (mainly in the states of Kaduna and Niger).
Dr. Basinga completed his medical degree at the National University of Rwanda and holds a masters degree and PHD in international development from Tulane University in the United States.