Photo by eZee Photography.
Did you know a Zimbabwean musician has been writing health campaign songs for the World Health Organization? Harare-based Afro-fusion artist and self-described "Green Ambassador" Dereck Mpofu presented the WHO's 2026 Hepatitis and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) campaign theme song directly to WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in Geneva, Switzerland, according to Youth Village Zimbabwe.
From Harare to Geneva
Mpofu travelled to Geneva as part of a high-level global health gathering that brought together more than 1,000 health leaders from around the world, using his performance to raise awareness around hepatitis, STIs, and broader public health challenges, the same city where Harare animation studio Lightbulbs & Lazers presented its own work to the UN's IP body in 2024. Tedros reportedly endorsed the campaign song directly, a notable moment of recognition for a musician working out of Zimbabwe rather than one of the global music industry's usual hubs.
This wasn't Mpofu's first health-advocacy work, or his first trip to Geneva. LinkedIn posts show he performed at a ZimHealth Europe gala in Geneva in September 2025 alongside fellow artist Gemma Griffiths, raising funds for maternal and child health projects on Zimbabwean commercial farms and rural clinics in Mutasa District. His profile describes his mission bluntly: "For any health, environmental or global crisis I can push your message through music from the global villages to the villages."
A longer track record than one Geneva trip
Mpofu's WHO campaign song builds on years of similar work. In early 2024, he collaborated with Congolese musician Etienne Kasereka on "Unite, Act, Eliminate," a theme song in English, French, and Swahili produced by Mono Mukundu to mark Neglected Tropical Diseases Day, according to reporting from The Herald and AllAfrica at the time. Mpofu told The Herald his role was to "curate a song around the theme," working across three languages to reach as many affected communities as possible for the global advocacy group Unite to Combat NTDs.
He's also held leadership roles well beyond music, serving as Executive President of the Green Ambassador's Foundation since 2010 and holding a position with the Zimbabwe Music Rights Association (ZIMURA), the body that protects and promotes royalty rights for Zimbabwean music creators.
Why this is worth knowing
Global health campaigns typically reach for recognisable international artists when they want a song with mass appeal. Mpofu's repeated involvement, first on neglected tropical diseases in 2024, now on hepatitis and STIs in 2026, suggests something more durable than a one-off booking: a working relationship between a Zimbabwean artist and international health bodies built on consistent, multi-language advocacy music rather than a single high-profile appearance.
