Dr. Désiré Boko

Désiré A. Boko is a primary care provider with more than three decades of healthcare experience, including extensive work in health system strengthening with U.S. government-funded projects. He has served as chief of party (COP) in fragile state settings in an environment of crisis and insecurity, including Mali and Haiti. He provides technical leadership and managerial oversight in the implementation of project strategy for such areas as health financing, health sector reform, human resources, and decentralization.

Boko currently serves as the Chief of Party (COP) for the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative Evolving Vector Control to Fight Malaria Project (PMI Evolve) in Côte d’Ivoire. As the COP, Boko is responsible for providing strategic direction, operations management, technical leadership, and financial and administrative compliance to ensure all project activities meet the desired outcomes and finish on time and within budget. Boko collaborates with the National Malaria Control Program (NMCP), regional and district health offices, and local research institutions, including Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques en Côte d'Ivoire (CSRS). His goal is to ensure that government, the private sector, and communities can sustain and lead future indoor residual spraying (IRS) and other malaria vector-control programs to reduce malaria-associated morbidity and mortality.

Before assuming his current post, Boko served as the COP in Mali for the Abt-led PMI VectorLink project from 2019 to 2022 and as the COP in Haiti for the Health Finance and Governance (HFG) project, a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded project to support the Ministry of Health in health system strengthening. He served as COP for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Foundation-funded Haiti IRS project. Before working in Haiti, Boko served in a variety of capacities in Côte d’Ivoire. As COP, he managed a multidisciplinary team under three consecutive USAID-funded projects: Health Systems 20/20, Strengthening Health Outcomes through the Private Sector, and HFG. Prior to Abt, he served as a program officer for the Global Fund Project for the United Nations Development Program and as a humanitarian coordinator for the United Nations Population Fund. As a doctor in Côte d’Ivoire, he worked with AIDS patients and was a regional coordinator for the National AIDS Control Program.

Expertise

• Health financing
• Health sector reform
• Human resources
• Decentralization
• Malaria vector control

Key Projects

• PMI Evolve
• PMI VectorLink
• Haiti Indoor Residual Spraying
• Health Finance and Governance (Haiti, Côte d’Ivoire)
• Strengthening Health Outcomes through the Private Sector
• Health Systems 20/20

Publications

• Barnes, Jeffrey, Désiré Boko, Mamadou Koné, Alphonse Kouakou, Thierry Uwamahoro, James White. May 2013. Ivory Coast Private Health Sector Assessment. Bethesda, MD: Strengthening Health Outcomes through the Private Sector Project, Abt Global Inc.
• Laurel Hatt, Christine Ortiz, Désiré A. Boko, Stephen Musau, Beatriz Zurita, Sika Lazare, Gilbert Kombe, October 2008, estimating the Costs of Providing HIV/AIDS Services in Public Health Facilities in Côte d’Ivoire, Bethesda, MD, the Health Systems 20/20 Project, Abt Global Inc.
• Appui au Renforcement du Système de Santé: Quels impacts sur l’amélioration de la sécurité des patients et la gestion des risques en milieu de soins? (Presented at the MOH workshop on patients’ safety organized in Abidjan, November 10th, 2009)
• VCT, PMTCT, and ARVT… a complementary package:  the experience of Côte d’Ivoire published at the XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto, August 13th-18th, 2006
• Le Fonds Mondial de lutte contre le SIDA, la Tuberculose et le Paludisme : la mise en œuvre en Côte d’Ivoire (Presented at the Côte d’Ivoire Scientific Days meetings for the HIV/Aids XVIII Mondial Campaign, January 18th to 20th, 2005)