Umar Kabo Idris is a digital health design leader with over 8 years of experience in project management, delivery and scaling of digital solutions supporting immunization programs and outbreak response in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa.
At Results for Development (R4D), Mr. Idris is a program officer for the innovation practice. In this role, he is the regional advisor for West Africa under the African Technology and Innovation Partnerships (ATIP) program where he works to identify innovation system strengthening priorities in Nigeria and Ghana. He also works with ecosystem actors to scale new and emerging technologies with high potential for poverty reduction and inclusive growth.
Prior to joining, R4D, Mr. Idris was a consultant with the World Health Organization (WHO) where he oversaw the scaling of the AVADAR project to seven states in Nigeria, adding over 5,000 community health workers and volunteers into the platform. He worked closely with national and subnational governments and technology partners to gather requirements to fit end user needs and local contexts. He also supported digitizing COVID-19 vaccination data for community health workers across Nigeria. As project manager with eHealth Africa, he managed innovative digital health projects like eTally, Maps design and delivery, Sokoto SET, Meningitis fixed post tracking, and GIS tracking.
Mr. Idris holds a master’s degree in public health from the University of Salford, UK and a BSc in health education from Bayero University Kano, Nigeria. He is a native speaker of English and Hausa and speaks basic Arabic.
