Joseph Ana spent 20 years working in the NHS, mainly in Bedfordshire as a urologist and GP.
My friend Joseph Ana, who has died aged 73, spent the best part of two decades in the UK working for the NHS as a urologist and then as a GP. But his heart was always in his native Nigeria, to which he returned to become a health commissioner. He used the knowledge and experience gained in the UK to help rebuild faith in the local healthcare system, overseeing improvements in vaccination rates and the introduction of a state-wide ambulance service.
Joseph was born in Zaria, Nigeria, to Onun Onebieni Uguana Ana, a railway worker, and Ubu Ana, his first wife. The family compound was in Ikot-Ana, Cross River state, and his family were kingmakers, choosing a king from the two royal families.
As a teenager, Joseph fought in the Biafran war, which interrupted his schooling. After the war, he restarted his education at Duke Town school in Calabar. Following the death of his two older brothers, he became head of an extensive family.
He graduated from the University of Nigeria Medical School in 1978 and worked as a junior doctor at St Margaret's Hospital in Calabar. He then completed a surgical residency at the University of Calabar teaching hospital from 1980 to 1982 before traveling to the UK to extend his knowledge.
His wife, Arit Akak, a public health nutritionist whom he married in 1977, and their three children joined him in 1984. He worked for ten years as a doctor and urologist in various hospitals in south-east England. He became a GP in 1992, joining a practice in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, mindful that his primary care work would be useful on returning to Africa.
That return came in 2004 when he was headhunted to become health commissioner in Cross River state, a region with three million people but only 72 doctors. One in five children died before age five, and one in 100 women died in childbirth. Only a fifth of the population was vaccinated, and 12% were infected with HIV.
Joseph worked on a 12-part clinical governance programme addressing funding, education, staff training, and patient empowerment. By the end of his tenure in 2008, 80% of the population were vaccinated, and HIV prevalence halved.
After stepping down as health commissioner, Joseph became a consultant, offering courses on healthcare management in many African countries. He also advised the Nigerian government and chaired the World Health Organization's technical advisory group on integrated care in primary, emergency, operative, and critical care, a role he held until his death.
Joseph was a man of action with deep Christian faith who rarely took no for an answer.
He is survived by Arit, their daughter Mbang, son Onebieni, and five grandchildren: Ubu, Kwadjo, Arit, Erioluwa, and Ndemana. Another daughter, Ubu, died in 2007.
