Profile: Prof. Francis Gervase Omaswa

Chancellor Busitema University

Professor Francis Omaswa is the current Chancellor of Busitema University. The Chancellor is the titular head of the University and presides over all ceremonial assemblies of the University and confers degrees and other academic titles and distinctions of that University.

Prof. Francis Omaswa is a graduate of Makerere Medical School, Uganda, a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, and is a Senior Associate at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He has several qualifications in health management and medical education.

He is the Executive of the African Centre for Global Health and Social Transformation (CHEST), an initiative incorporated in Uganda and promoted by a network of African and International leaders in health and development.

 “CHEST is an independent “Think Tank and Network” that works to stimulate the growth of African rooted capacity for leadership and excellence in health and to make Africa a stronger player in health.

Until May 2008, Prof. Francis Gervase Omaswa was a Special Adviser to the World Health Organization (WHO), Director General and founding Executive Director of the Global Health Workforce Alliance (GHWA) a partnership that is dedicated to identifying and providing solutions to the global heath workforce crisis.

This work culminated in the first ever global forum on human resources for health, organized by Professor Omaswa, which adopted the “Kampala Declaration and Agenda for Global Action” that now guides the global response on health workforce development.

Between 1999 – 2005, Prof. Francis Omaswa was the Director General of Health Services in the Ministry of Health in Uganda. During that time Prof. Francis Omaswa was responsible for coordinating and implementing major reforms in the health sector in Uganda which included the introduction of the Swaps, quality assurance and decentralization.

Prof. Francis Gervase Omaswa has served as Head of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of Nairobi and Kenyatta National Hospital in Kenya.

He is a founding Director of the Uganda Heart Institute and Associate Professor of Surgery at Makerere University, Uganda.

Prof. Francis Gervase Omaswa has also taught at Liverpool University in England. He is the founding President of the College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa whose head is in Arusha, Tanzania.

He has published in many areas of surgery, infectious disease, health system reform and health services management including human resources for health.

Prof. Omaswa is the lead editor of the Manual for Quality Assurance of Health Care and has contributed to chapters in other books.

His current research interests are in Leadership Capacity of Ministers and Ministries of Health, Health Systems Governance, Capacity Needs of African Medical Schools and Health Worker migration, retention and distribution.

In the community, Prof. Francis Gervase Omaswa has served on many boards in schools and universities, civil society, the private sector and parastatals in several cases as the Chair of these boards.

Because of his excellent work, Omaswa has received multiple meritious awards.

A Street has been named after Prof. Francis Gervase Omaswa in his home town, Soroti District.

At global level, he is the current chair of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) Independent Review Committee, Senior Advisor to the Ministerial Leadership Initiative for Global Health, Co Chair of the Health Worker Migration Policy Council and the Sub-Saharan African Medical Schools Study.

Prof. Francis Omaswa has also served as founding Chair of the Global Stop TB Partnership, Chair of the Portfolio and Procurement Committee of the Global Fund Board.

He was a member of the steering committee of the High Level Forum on health-related MDGs.

At the African Level, he has served on many committees and expert panels: he was the lead consultant in developing the African Union HIV Policy and he was on a panel of experts that developed guidelines for monitoring of implementation of the African Union Abuja Declaration on HIV, a member of WHO Afro Task Force on Poverty and Health.

He has served as an adviser to government on health policy and strategy in developing and developed countries and has access to a wide network of contacts in international health.

Professor Omaswa is a graduate of Makerere Medical School, Uganda, a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, and is a Senior Associate at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He has several qualifications in health services management and medical education.