Who Is Professor Roma Chilengi, HH’s New Health Minister?

President Hakainde Hichilema has appointed Professor Roma Chilengi as Zambia’s new Minister of Health, bringing one of the country’s most experienced public-health researchers into Cabinet.

Chilengi may not be as familiar to the public as many career politicians, but his work in medicine and public health stretches back nearly three decades.

He trained as a medical doctor at the University of Zambia and later studied at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. His career has included research work in Zambia, Tanzania and Kenya, with a particular focus on vaccines, infectious diseases and clinical trials.

His research has covered diseases including malaria, rotavirus, cholera, HIV and Shigella. He also helped establish the Enteric Disease and Vaccine Research programme at the Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia, where he later became Chief Scientific Officer.

One of the most significant areas of his work has involved rotavirus, a major cause of severe diarrhoeal disease among young children.

Chilengi was involved in work supporting the rollout of rotavirus vaccination in Zambia and later researched how vaccination could provide stronger and longer-lasting protection for Zambian children. The European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership says his work with the Ministry of Health and local organisations, including the rotavirus vaccine rollout, had a significant impact on child mortality.

His relationship with President Hichilema is also not new.

Only weeks after taking office in 2021, Hichilema appointed Chilengi as his Special Adviser on COVID-19, bringing the scientist into State House during the pandemic.

Chilengi subsequently rose to become Director-General of the Zambia National Public Health Institute, putting him at the centre of Zambia’s disease surveillance and response to public-health emergencies. He was still serving as ZNPHI Director-General immediately before his move into politics.

President Hichilema has now nominated him to Parliament and appointed him Minister of Health as part of the first group of ministers in his second-term administration.

It is a significant transition for Chilengi.

After years spent researching diseases, testing health interventions, advising the President and leading Zambia’s main public-health institution, he will now be responsible for a health system facing challenges ranging from medicine availability and hospital infrastructure to cancer treatment and patient care.

His scientific credentials are well established.

The bigger test now is whether that experience can translate into improvements that ordinary Zambians can see and feel when they visit a clinic or hospital.