Post by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Center for Women and Development (EJS Center)

Profiling our 5th Cohort of Amujae Leaders: Dr. Esperance Luvindao, Minister of Health and Social Services, Namibia. Medical Doctor. Forbes 30 Under 30 Dr. Esperance Luvindao is one of Africa's youngest health ministers. Since her appointment, she has moved with the urgency of someone who knows that in healthcare, delay costs lives. She has recruited over 2,000 healthcare workers, overseen the direct procurement of medications from manufacturers, decentralised core health functions to empower regions to act independently, and launched Namibia's first-ever digital health policy. On the global stage, she chaired Committee A at the 78th World Health Assembly and was named a Lusaka Agenda Champion by the Africa CDC. In November 2025, she tabled the Mental Health Bill, repealing legislation that had not been touched since 1973. Long before the ministry, however, Dr. Luvindao had already decided that waiting for systems to change was not an option. In 2019, she founded OSAAT Africa Health Foundation, taking healthcare directly to the communities that formal systems had left behind. Through the Foundation, she launched Menga, a digital platform enabling patients in informal settlements to access prescribed medication without leaving their communities. She created Emily's Health, a women's health guide published in eight native languages. She developed a handheld sonar probe, weighing just 0.9kg and requiring no internet connection, that brings fibroid, cyst, and obstetric scanning to women in rural areas who would otherwise go without. And she established the Dr. Esperance Luvindao Healthcare Scholarship, funding young women into health careers while training them as the next generation of healthcare leaders. Read her full profile: https://lnkd.in/d9UqwsZP #Amujae #WomenLeadAfrica #Namibia #EJSCenter