About CHIEF (MRS.) GRACE ASHIVER WENDE
A Public Health Specialist with over 30 years field experience with special interest in Health Development and Health Systems Strengthening, Grace Ashi Wende is a seasoned bureaucrat who has served meritoriously at the highest level of the Civil Service.
Mrs. Wende currently heads the hitherto underperforming State Primary Health Care Board. Her leadership is repositioning the Primary Health care system in the state to provide timely care as well as linkages to surgical, obstetric, trauma and anesthesia care. Only a few months into her first tenure at the Primary Health Care Board, she recorded a landmark achievement by making Benue the best in routine immunization nationwide in 2022. She rebuilt the confidence of the Donor Community in the Board in terms of accountability and efficiency.
As a result, even when her tenure ended, the new administration reappointed her in 2023 in recognition of her exceptional leadership. Her integrity, resourcefulness, transparency, and accountability have also earned her the trust of donor agencies. This holds immense value to the state as sustained donor funding for primary healthcare in the state means increased access to basic healthcare at the rural levels.
In addition, she designed the first ever HIV/AIDS Response for the State and led the response both at the health sector and multi-sectoral levels. Her contributions to the HIV response in the State are acknowledged both locally and nationally and this gave her immense opportunities to present papers at national and international conferences on the subject. As the lead of the HIV Response in the State, Wende successfully managed a multi-million dollar World Bank portfolio to stem the tide of the epidemic.
Her efforts paid off: Benue’s premier position in HIV prevalence was reduced to almost the last position in the country and greatly reduced the impact on the population. She demonstrated uncommon managerial ability in co-ordinating many national and international partners and donors to achieve results for the State without violating the Paris Declaration.
Her achievements as the Executive Secretary of the State HIV/AIDS Control Agency earned her the appointment as the Executive Secretary of the State Primary Healthcare Board.
Grace Wende is a fantastic human and material resource manager and succeeds largely in getting the best out of the human resources at her disposal in spite of the well known challenge of dearth of appropriate and experienced personnel in the State Civil Service. By virtue of her efforts, deliberate strides are being made to reposition PHC as the tier of choice for the majority of the Benue population to the admiration of the Donor Community who are suddenly eager to support the State with more resources to increase access to services throughout the State.
Although a lot of traction has been gained in repositioning PHC in line with the National Health Reform Agenda and the International Health PUSH for Global Access to Health, there is a critical need to sustain the efforts and push for further to put the State at the top of the Primary Health Care Service Delivery in the country with the goal of winning the next edition of the Basic Health Care Provision Fund Challenge.
Born in July 1959 to missionary parents, Grace Wende is, in addition to all the above, also a Health Development Specialist, managing health policy programmes at State and community levels. She specializes in the areas of Programme Management, Service Delivery, particularly in health and social protection, and has a special interest in the promotion of citizen voice and health freedoms. She is excellent in facilitation and communication skills and interpersonal relations. Grace Wende has a fantastic understanding of the experiential learning model and ability to design, adapt and use a wide range of participatory training and evaluation methods as well as other changes in management and human development tools.
Educated at the Nuffield Institute for Health, University of Leeds in the United Kingdom, Institute of Population Studies, University of Exeter, also in the United Kingdom, Benue State University, Makurdi, the University of Benin, Nigeria and the Murtala College of Arts, Science and Technology, Makurdi, Grace Wende is a Japanese and British Chevening Scholar.
A public health expert and a seasoned health development specialist, Wende was exemplary in her leadership of the HIV/AIDS response in Benue and led the rapid scale-up of HIV treatment that eventually saw the State achieve near saturation of treatment as adjudged by the 2018 NAIIS Survey. She is a recipient of the Productivity Merit Award of the Federal Government of Nigeria for the best performing and productive State AIDS Control Agency in Nigeria 2013.
Chief (Mrs.) Grace Ashi Wende, MA, several Advanced Diplomas and diplomas, is an intellectual colossus, a management expert, a human and material resource specialist and manager, an excellent communicator, a great mobilizer, a workaholic, a commanding voice in the void and a lady whose presence and voice evoke respect, awe, admiration and fear. She is an asset to Benue State and the nation as a whole.