Biography, career, family, education, life story of Muhammad Ali Pate

Dr. Muhammad Ali Pate is a global health expert, an ex-politician from Bauchi state, Nigeria.

He is the former Global Director for Health, Nutrition and Population and director of the Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents (GFF) at the World Bank Group. Pate is also the former Minister of State for Health in Nigeria and the Present Minister of Health and Social Welfare of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

 

ENigeria Newspapers will work you through the profile of Dr. Muhammad Ali Pate, CON

Profile summary

Name: Muhammad Ali Pate,CON

Date of birth: 6th September, 1968

State of origin: Misau, Bauchi, Nigeria

Education: Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria

Relationship status: Married

Career: Physician, Politician

Political party: All Progressives Congress

 

Education

He completed his primary and secondary education in his hometown before studying at Ahmadu Bello University Medical school in Kaduna where he graduated with a degree in Medicine.

He also studied at the University College, London and has a Masters in Health System Management from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK. He also bags an MBA in Health Sector Concentration from Duke University, USA.

He completed his residency at the University of Rochester in the USA. Dr Pate is certified by the American Board as a MD in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases.

Early Life

Muhammad Ali Pate hails from Misau local government area of Bauchi State, Nigeria. He was born on 6th September,1968 to a Fulani herdsman.

 

Family

Pate is a Muslim who is married with six children. He resides in northern Nigeria.

Career

After graduation from school, he moved to the Gambia and worked in rural hospitals for a few years. He worked with the World Bank in Washington DC and spearheaded health sector reform projects in Africa, East Asia and other regions of the World Bank.

He held vital positions in the world bank including Senior Health Specialist and Human Development Sector Coordinator for the East Asia/Pacific Region and Senior Health Specialist for the African Region.

In 2008, he headed the National Primary Health Care Agency (NPHCDA), a post he held until 2011. At that time there was a polio epidemic in Nigeria and, during his time in office, he instigated a policy whereby respected leaders in relevant areas helped encourage immunization, cases of wild poliomyelitis decreased from 803 at the end of 2008, to just 11 in 2010.

Dr Muhammad Ali Pate played an active role in setting out the transformation agenda to manage outstanding issues when the NPHCDA merged with the National Programme on Immunisation (NPI). He also implemented pioneering policies, such as training middle management for primary health care and the collaboration between public and private sectors through partnership.

He also introduced the Midwives’ Service Scheme (MSS), to address the national high maternal and child morbidity and mortality rate in Nigeria so as to reach out to the people in remote areas.

In 2011 he was appointed as Minister of State for Health in Nigeria after succeeding as the Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Abuja.

In July 2013 he resigned from his ministerial post to become Professor at Duke University Global Health Institute in the USA.

In 2019, Pate was appointed Julio Frenk Professor of Public Health Leadership at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He is formerly the chief executive officer of Big Win Philanthropy and an adjunct professor of Global Health of the Duke University Global Health Institute.

In February 2023, Muhammad Ali Pate was appointed chief executive officer of GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, which works to provide vaccines in low-income countries.

As a global ambassador of health, Pate has served both in national and international organizations including;

The First WHO Health Systems Research Forum, 2009, in Montreux, Switzerland,

Mckinsey’s Geneva Health Forum 2009, in Switzerland,

Ernst Strungman Forum, 2010, in Frankfurt, Germany,

China-Africa Roundtable for Health, 2010; Pacific Summit, 2011, in Seattle, WA, USA,

Member of the Board of Directors of the American International Health Alliance as at 2017,

Member of Board for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria,

The Steering Committee on Assessment of Impact of Polio Eradication on Routine Immunisation, for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,

Advisory Board of Merck for Mothers,
The Steering Committee for Primary Health Care Performance Initiative (PHCPI),

Board of the Private Health Sector Alliance of Nigeria.

 

Awards and titles

In 2012, he was given the Harvard Health Leader Award by the Harvard Ministerial Leadership Program.

On October 2022, Pate, was conferred with Nigeria’s national honour as Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON).

Dr Pate holds the equivalent of a knighthood title as “Chigarin Misau” from his community.

In August 2023, he was appointed Minister of Health and Social Welfare by president Bola Ahmed Tinubu.