Professor Vincent Palokinam Pitché from Togo has been appointed as the Director-General of the West African Health Organization (OOAS), the specialized institution of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in the field of health. The headquarters, historically located in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, is currently being transferred to Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. He was appointed by the heads of state of the region for a four-year term.
A dermatologist, infectious disease specialist, and lecturer at the University of Lomé, Vincent Palokinam Pitché succeeds Beninese Dr. Melchior Athanase Joël Codjovi Aïssi, who has been in office since August 3, 2022, and whose term was coming to an end. His appointment reinforces the profile of a public health professional experienced in regional coordination. In Togo, he notably led the Permanent Secretariat of the National Council for the Fight against AIDS and STIs. At OOAS, he inherits heavy responsibilities: epidemiological surveillance, harmonization of health policies, local production of medicines and vaccines, and strengthening of healthcare coverage in the community.
His appointment comes in a particular geopolitical context. OOAS is an agency of ECOWAS whose headquarters was located in Burkina Faso, one of the three countries of the Sahel States Alliance (AES) along with Mali and Niger. However, these three states announced their withdrawal from ECOWAS on January 28, 2024, before it became effective on January 29, 2025, after a one-year period provided for by community provisions.
Vincent Pitché’s assumption of office, announced nearly eighteen months after Burkina Faso’s effective withdrawal from ECOWAS, therefore takes place at a time when community institutions themselves are being caught up in the ECOWAS-AES fracture. In fact, during the Abuja summit on June 22, 2025, ECOWAS member states initially agreed on the principle of transferring OOAS headquarters to Côte d’Ivoire, before the Conference of Heads of State officially designated Abidjan in December 2025. In February of this year, Dr. Aïssi had already visited Abidjan to prepare the practical modalities of installation.
For the new head of OOAS, the challenge will be twofold: to oversee the final phases of the headquarters transition to Côte d’Ivoire while maintaining regional health continuity in a West Africa divided between two blocs.
