Pediatrics and Community Health

Mpanju-Shumbusho's teaching and research career began in 1986 at her alma mater, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, following her appointment to the university's faculty as a Senior Medical Officer and Senior Lecturer in Pediatrics, Child Health, and Community Health. During this time she was also a Consultant Pediatrician in the Department of Pediatrics and Child Health at Muhimbili National Hospital, Tanzania's largest referral and teaching hospital. Subsequently, she was appointed Head of the Department of Community Health, MUHAS, and Chief Public Health Adviser to the Tanzania Ministry of Health from 1986 to 1993. In this capacity, Mpanju-Shumbusho guided the strengthening of the medical school's training curriculum to include more community oriented and community based training, the model later emulated by other institutions in Eastern Africa, including Moi University, Kenya, and the University of Malawi College of Medicine in Malawi. She also spearheaded collaborations between MUHAS and various universities and national and international medical research institutions (e.g. Karolinska Institute in Sweden).

As the chief public health technical advisor to the Tanzania Ministry of Health, Mpanju-Shumbusho was a member of national public health steering committees and think tanks for establishment and review of Tanzania's national public health and primary health care programmes, including maternal and child health (MCH), expanded immunization, major communicable diseases, and water and sanitation. Mpanju-Shumbusho's contribution to the global effort for eradication of malaria started many decades ago. In the mid-1990s she was an international clinical monitor of the open randomized trial of artemether against quinine in the treatment of cerebral malaria in African children, which was conducted in Tanzania, Malawi, and Nigeria. Results from the study contributed significantly towards the WHO policy change to Artemisinin Combination Therapy as first-line treatment for malaria in endemic countries. In another study, Mpanju-Shumbusho served as the international clinical medical monitor for the SPF66 malaria vaccine trial conducted in Ifakara District and Ifakara Health Institute, Tanzania, from 1990 to 1995 under the sponsorship of WHO and the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) and in collaboration with Prof. Peter Smith of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Dr Malcom Molyneux of Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.

Director General East, Central, and Southern African Health community (1997–1999)

Mpanju-Shumbusho joined ECSA-HC (formerly CRHC-ECSA) in 1993 as Director of the Reproductive Health and Research Programme. The intergovernmental organization, headquartered in Arusha, Tanzania, was established in 1974 to foster and promote regional cooperation in health among Member States of Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. In 1997, Mpanju-Shumbusho was appointed Director-General/Regional Secretary of ECSA-HC. As the organization's Director General and Head of Mission, she led the development and implementation of the first-ever ECSA-HC Five-Year Strategic Plan (1999–2004), which raised the international profile of ECSA-HC. She also initiated collaborations with various regional, international, and donor agencies, and mobilized resources from member states and donors, including the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), European Commission, Rockefeller Foundation, Wellstart International, WHO, and others.

World Health Organization

Mpanju-Shumbusho had many leadership roles within WHO since joining the UN Agency in 1999 as Director of the HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections Initiative, later renamed HIV/AIDS Department, the position she held until 2003.^[1][4] In this role she led the mainstreaming of HIV into the work of all relevant WHO Clusters and Departments, mobilization of WHO on HIV, and ensured integration of HIV into the various areas of work of the WHO, increased knowledge about HIV/AIDS within the WHO and advocacy to make the disease a priority. She directed the development of the first ever Global Health Sector Strategy for HIV/AIDS for the period 2003–2007 and development of the first ever WHO Guidelines for public health approach to scaling up antiretroviral therapy (ART) in resource limited settings. She was co-founder of the WHO 3by5 Initiative and directed the Organization's 3by5 country support activities for scaling up AIDS treatment globally. Subsequently, Mpanju-Shumbusho was appointed Senior Adviser to the Assistant Director General during which she concomitantly served as Director of the Office of WHO/Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria (Global Fund) Partnership and Technical Cooperation, overseeing WHO's work with global health partnerships. In addition to the Global Fund, other partners included UNAIDS, Stop TB Partnership, RBM Partnership, UNITAID, and TDR. The initiative entailed cross-cutting coordination with other WHO Clusters, including Health Systems Strengthening, Family and Community Health, the six WHO Regional Offices, and key donors and NGOs. From 2005 to 2015, Mpanju-Shumbusho was a board member of the Global Fund.

Mpanju-Shumbusho was appointed an Assistant Director General of WHO for HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases.^[4] As WHO Assistant Director General, Mpanju-Shumbusho steered WHO's work in prevention, control, impact-mitigation, country support and global partnerships to combat the diseases under her purview and contributed significantly to the attainment of Millennium Development Goal (MDG) #6 and related MDGs. Her leadership ensured smooth and pragmatic transition between the MDG and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) frameworks. Her leadership of the WHO-Global Fund collaboration facilitated eligible countries’ acquisition of more than US$10 Billion from the Global Fund for combating diseases and strengthening health systems. Mpanju-Shumbusho retired from WHO on December 31, 2015.

Roll Back Malaria

Mpanju-Shumbusho joined the RBM Partnership To End Malaria Board in 2016 as board chair. She has dedicated her recent career to the journey for malaria elimination and universal health coverage.^[4][5] As Board Chair, she reinvigorated the Partnership and ensured it was on the forefront of global efforts to mobilise the necessary political will and resources to renew the fight to end malaria for good. She provided leadership that ensured vigor, cautioning  that the partnerships, strategies, and tools that eliminated malaria in 27 countries, and that reduced malaria by more than half, saving nearly 7 million lives since 2000, are nevertheless not enough to end malaria for good, especially in the highest burden countries where the disease still thrives. Mpanju-Shumbusho continues to chair meetings for WHO and other international organizations focused on malaria eradication. She is the co-chair of the Lancet Commission on Malaria Eradication and has authored numerous publications advocating for initiatives to end new malarial infections.^[6][7] After completing her three-year term in 2019, Mpanju-Shumbusho passed the role onto her successor, Prof. Maha Taysir Barakat, former director-general of Health Authority Abu Dhabi.^[8]

Global Commission on Malaria Eradication

Mpanju-Shumbusho was co-senior author, alongside Prof. Richard Feachem, on the report from The Lancet in 2019 about malaria eradication within 30 years.^[9][10]