Matiko Riro
Kenyan physician-economist Dr. Matiko Riro is quietly rewriting the financial playbook behind Africa’s health systems. From his Nairobi base as regional technical advisor for health financing at the Clinton Health Access Initiative(CHAI), he steers reform teams in a dozen countries, turning line-item budgets into performance-based contracts that stretch limited funds farther and reward clinics for outcomes, not inputs. His workshops have helped ministries embed health-technology assessment units that now vet everything from cancer drugs to digital antenatal apps, saving millions of dollars and accelerating access to cost-effective care.
Riro’s influence extends beyond government halls. As an adviser to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, he distils frontline data into investment strategies aimed at cutting maternal deaths across East and West Africa. A medical doctor by training and a health economist by conviction, he balances clinical insight with fiscal discipline, coaching policymakers on value-based purchasing while mentoring young analysts through CHAI’s fellowship pipeline. Next on his agenda: a regional knowledge-exchange platform linking universities, treasuries and civil-society watchdogs to ensure that every shilling spent on health delivers measurable return. His driving belief remains simple and distinctly Kenyan: smart money, openly tracked, can move public health from survival mode to sustainable progress.