AFRICA— As the 2025 election approaches, five male candidates have announced their intention to contest for the position of Regional Director for the World Health Organization’s (WHO) African Region.

 These nominations will be submitted to the WHO Executive Board meeting in January 2025.

Consequently, the newly appointed director is expected to take office in February 2025 for a five-year term, with the possibility of being reappointed once.

This comes after the retirement of Botswana’s Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, who has served two terms and is not eligible for re-election.

Dr. Moeti, who was appointed in 2015, has overseen WHO’s operations through various challenging circumstances, including Ebola outbreaks and the COVID-19 pandemic.

This election is crucial, as the chosen candidate will steer the region’s health strategies and initiatives for the next five years.

Among the candidates who have declared their candidacy, two are currently employed at WHO headquarters, while a third is also based in Geneva.

Notably, Senegalese Dr. Ibrahima Socé Fall, proposed by his home country, is currently the WHO Director of the Global Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) program.

 Prior to this, he was WHO Assistant Director-General for Emergency Response, appointed in March 2019, just a year before the COVID-19 pandemic. In this role, he led WHO’s global response to emergencies, heading the incident teams.

Moreover, Dr. N’da Konan Michel Yao, proposed by his home country Côte d’Ivoire, has been WHO Director of Strategic Health Operations since August 2020. In this capacity, he coordinates the body’s response to health, natural, and humanitarian disasters.

Meanwhile, Dr. Richard Mihigo, proposed by Rwanda, is based in Geneva, where he has worked for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, since 2022.

He is currently the Senior Director of Programmatic and Strategic Engagement with the African Union and Africa CDC.

Before this role, he was Gavi’s Global Lead and Senior Director for COVID-19 Vaccine Delivery, Coordination, and Integration.

In addition, Dr. Boureima Hama Sambo, proposed by Niger, is WHO’s Representative to the Democratic Republic of the Congo as Head of Mission. He has previously worked at WHO headquarters on climate change initiatives.

Lastly, Dr. Faustine Engelbert Ndugulile, proposed by Tanzania, served as the country’s Minister for Communication and Information Technology between December 2020 and September 2021 and has also held the position of Deputy Minister of Health.

With the election drawing close, the WHO African Region’s Regional Committee will vote for the next regional director in a closed meeting from August 26 to 30 in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo.

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