Aginam, Obijiofor

Dr. Obijiofor Aginam was a Visiting Research Fellow at UNU-CRIS.

Prior to this position, he was Deputy Director and Head of Governance for Global Health at the United Nations University-International Institute for Global Health in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where he is a Principal Visiting Fellow. He is concurrently an Adjunct Research Professor of Law and Legal Studies at Carleton University, Canada and Visiting Professor at The Institute for Future Initiatives, University of Tokyo. He was Senior Research Fellow at the United Nations University-Institute for Sustainability and Peace at the UN University headquarters, Tokyo (2007-2013); tenured Associate Professor of Law at Carleton University, (2001-2007), and Global Health Officer at the WHO headquarters in Geneva (1999-2001). He has been a fellow of the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) of New York on “Global Security and Cooperation”, 21st Century Trust on “Disease and Security”, and WHO on “Global Health Leadership”. Dr. Aginam served on the expert advisory panels of FAO on food safety, trade and investment involving field missions to Bangladesh and Laos, and the United Nations Interagency Taskforce on Non-communicable Diseases (2014-2019). He has been a visiting professor at the University for Peace, Costa Rica, and universities in Italy, South Africa, and Japan.

As Visiting Research Fellow at UNU-CRIS, Dr Aginam researched and wrote a book chapter on ‘regional health governance’, and developed a capacity building proposal on ‘African perspectives on global health governance and diplomacy’ – a webinar targeting African policymakers, researchers, and civil society on the impact of emerging and reemerging global health issues on African societies.

His research interests include law and globalization of public health, global health governance, health diplomacy, and ‘Third World’ Approaches to International Law (TWAIL). His works have been published in peer-reviewed journals such as Global Health Governance; Law, Social Justice and Global Development; International Journal of Public Health (Bulletin of the World Health Organization); Food and Drug Law Journal; Technology in Society; Health Promotion Perspectives, and International Journal of Preventive Medicine. He serves on the editorial board of Global Health Governance: The Scholarly Journal for the New Health Security Paradigm. Dr Aginam is the author and editor of 7 books including Global Health Governance: International Law and Public Health in a Divided World (2005).