Meet the Heroine: Dr. Josephine Kibaru-Mbae

Dr. Josephine Kibaru-Mbae is the Director General of the National Council for Population and Development (NCPD). NCPD is a Semi-Autonomous State Agency under The Treasury and Ministry of Planning. NCPD is responsible for coordinating the multisectoral implementation of the National Population Policy; Sessional paper No 3 of 2012.   Dr. Mbae has been at the helm of NCPD since February 2014 and has coordinated several key activities among them; The National Survey on Male Involvement in Reproductive Health 2015; The National Adolescent and Youth Survey 2016, The Health Facility Survey 2016; development of a National Roadmap on Demographic Dividend 2017 and the 1^st Africa-China Conference on Population and Development in 2017. (Source: Ncpd.go.ke)

Dr. Kibaru-Mbae is a Medical Doctor, specialized in Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Public Health. She has about 30 years’ experience in the public health sector, with about 20 of these years in Leadership and Management positions at different levels of the health sector in the Republic of Kenya. She started at the District level and rose through the ranks to the level of Senior Deputy Director of Medical Services in charge of Family Health Services, Ministry of Health; Kenya. Dr. Kibaru-Mbae has represented the government in various national and international fora such as the WHA, ICPD etc. During her tenure at the Division of Reproductive Health, in collaboration with other stakeholders, she successfully lobbied for the first ever budget-line for Family Planning in Kenya in 2005. (Source: www.knbs.or.ke)

According to Dr Josephine “It is imperative to ensure that women do not spend their most productive years having and raising children, rather than entering the workforce and contributing to economic production. This is the pathway with greatest potential for ensuring healthy, educated and productive populations. This was the take-off strategy adopted by the ‘Asian Tigers’, where millions of people were lifted out of poverty by lowering dependency ratio, while allowing families to make savings. These savings translated into investments and boosted economic growth.” (Source: Businessdailyafrica.com)