Professor Ada Aghaji is a Nigerian public health ophthalmologist, eye health systems expert, and global health leader whose work is helping redefine eye health as a development, economic, and health systems priority in Africa.
At a time when millions across Africa continue to lose sight from preventable and treatable conditions, Professor Aghaji has emerged as one of the continent’s leading voices on how strong health systems — not isolated interventions — are essential for delivering equitable eye care. Her work focuses on population eye health as a critical indicator of health system performance, social equity, human capital development, and national productivity.
Over the past two decades, she has built an influential body of work that combines implementation research, policy influence, systems strengthening, and advocacy to improve access to eye care for underserved populations. Her research has helped shape how primary eye care is designed, measured, financed, and integrated into health systems in low-resource settings.
Professor Aghaji holds a PhD in Primary Eye Care Systems from the London School of Hygiene C Tropical Medicine, where her research generated some of the earliest and most comprehensive implementation evidence on the realities of integrating eye care into primary health care systems in sub-Saharan Africa. Her research helped define the technical capacities required for implementing the WHO AFRO Primary Eye Care Package in Africa and contributed to growing international recognition that eye care cannot be sustainably delivered outside strong primary health care systems.
Her work has been published in leading journals including BMJ Global Health, The Lancet Global Health, JAMA Oncology, BMC Health Services Research, PLOS Global Public Health, and the British Journal of Ophthalmology. Through these publications, she has contributed evidence used in global discussions on eye health equity, implementation science, cataract surgical coverage, childhood blindness, and universal health coverage.
Beyond research, Professor Aghaji has consistently translated evidence into policy and systems change. As a research fellow at Nigeria’s National Primary Health Care Development Agency, she contributed to the development of a national policy on the prevention of blinding neonatal eye conditions — a policy with implications for the approximately seven million babies born in Nigeria every year.
As Chairperson of Nigeria’s National Rubella Expert Committee, she led the development of eight congenital rubella sentinel surveillance sites across the country, contributing to the eventual nationwide rollout of the rubella vaccine in Nigeria.
She currently leads the first-ever Rapid Assessment of Avoidable Blindness (RAAB) survey in Southeastern Nigeria, generating critical population-level evidence that will guide blindness prevention planning, financing decisions, workforce development, and eye health service delivery in one of Nigeria’s most populous regions.
Professor Aghaji is also shaping the next generation of ophthalmic leadership in Africa. She serves as a Board Member and Committee Chair at the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria, Faculty of Ophthalmology — the body responsible for specialist postgraduate medical training in Nigeria. She has developed postgraduate research and surgical training initiatives, strengthened continuing professional education structures, and mentored emerging clinicians, surgeons, and researchers in public health ophthalmology.
She serves as Associate Editor for PLOS ONE and BMC Ophthalmology, contributing to the advancement of scientific scholarship and evidence generation in global eye health.
Professor Aghaji is a Kofi Annan Global Health Leader and a Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust Fellow. Her work is driven by a central conviction: that vision is not simply a medical issue, but an issue of equity, productivity, education, dignity, and economic development. Through research, policy influence, implementation science, and advocacy, she continues to push for stronger African health systems in which quality eye care is accessible to all.
