Regional Directors
Dr Matshidiso Rebecca Moeti, Regional Director for Africa
Dr Matshidiso Rebecca Moeti from Botswana was elected as WHO Regional Director for Africa on 1 February 2015. Dr Moeti is the first woman WHO Regional Director for Africa.
Dr Moeti aims to build a responsive, effective and result-driven regional secretariat that can advance efforts towards universal health coverage and accelerate progress toward global development goals, while tackling emerging threats. Strong partnerships will underpin every aspect of the Regional Office's work during her tenure.
Dr Moeti is a public health veteran, with more than 35 years of national and international experience. She joined WHO’s Africa Regional Office in 1999 and has served as Deputy Regional Director, Assistant Regional Director, Director of Noncommunicable Diseases, WHO Representative for Malawi, and Coordinator of the Inter-Country Support Team for the South and East African countries.
Biography
Letter of Representation
Delegation of Authority
Dr Moeti aims to build a responsive, effective and result-driven regional secretariat that can advance efforts towards universal health coverage and accelerate progress toward global development goals, while tackling emerging threats. Strong partnerships will underpin every aspect of the Regional Office's work during her tenure.
Dr Moeti is a public health veteran, with more than 35 years of national and international experience. She joined WHO’s Africa Regional Office in 1999 and has served as Deputy Regional Director, Assistant Regional Director, Director of Noncommunicable Diseases, WHO Representative for Malawi, and Coordinator of the Inter-Country Support Team for the South and East African countries.
Biography
Letter of Representation
Delegation of Authority
Dr Carissa F. Etienne, WHO Regional Director for the Americas
Dr. Carissa F. Etienne was elected Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) by the Member States of the Organization on 19 September 2012 and began her five-year term on 1 February 2013. From March 2008 until 1 November 2012, Dr. Etienne served as Assistant Director-General for Health Systems and Services at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland.
Prior to that, as Assistant Director of PAHO from July 2003 to February 2008, she led 5 technical areas: Health Systems and Services; Technology, Health Care and Research; Health Surveillance and Disease Management; Family and Community Health; and Sustainable Development and Environmental Health.
During her tenures at WHO and PAHO, Dr. Etienne led the efforts to renew primary health care and to strengthen health systems based on primary health care, promoting integration and improved functioning of health systems. She has also spearheaded policy directions for reducing health inequalities and advancing health for all through universal coverage, people-centered care, the integration of health into broader public policies, and inclusive and participatory health leadership.
Biography
Letter of Representation
Delegation of Authority
Prior to that, as Assistant Director of PAHO from July 2003 to February 2008, she led 5 technical areas: Health Systems and Services; Technology, Health Care and Research; Health Surveillance and Disease Management; Family and Community Health; and Sustainable Development and Environmental Health.
During her tenures at WHO and PAHO, Dr. Etienne led the efforts to renew primary health care and to strengthen health systems based on primary health care, promoting integration and improved functioning of health systems. She has also spearheaded policy directions for reducing health inequalities and advancing health for all through universal coverage, people-centered care, the integration of health into broader public policies, and inclusive and participatory health leadership.
Biography
Letter of Representation
Delegation of Authority
Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia
Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, an Indian national, became the first woman to assume the office of WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia on 1 February 2014. Dr Khetrapal Singh’s priority areas of work in the Region are: addressing the persisting and emerging epidemiological and demographic challenges; promoting universal health coverage and robust health systems; strengthening emergency risk management for sustainable development; articulating a strong regional voice in the global health agenda.
She served for over two decades as a civil servant in India as member of the Indian Administrative Services. She was the Health Secretary of the State of Punjab, with a population of 27 million and a health budget of US$ 350 million.
In 1987 she moved to the Health, Population and Nutrition Department of The World Bank. In 1998 she joined WHO headquarters as Executive Director, Sustainable Development and Healthy Environments Cluster, and a member of the Director-General’s Cabinet. Dr Khetrapal Singh served as WHO Deputy Regional Director for the South-East Asia Region from 2000 to 2013. In February 2013, she joined the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of the Government of India as Advisor for International Health, where her principal task was to strengthen global health outcomes and provide guidance to the Ministry to take forward the international health agenda.
Biography
Letter of Representation
Delegation of Authority
Dr Hans Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe
Dr Hans Kluge is the WHO Regional Director for Europe. His term began on 1 February 2020, following his nomination by the WHO Regional Committee for Europe and appointment by the WHO Executive Board.
Throughout his career, beginning as a family doctor in Belgium, along a journey to Somalia, Liberia, the prisons in Siberia, former Soviet Union countries, Myanmar and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and most recently leading the Division of Health Systems and Public Health at WHO/Europe for a decade, Dr Kluge has always been committed to achieving better health for all with a focus on the vulnerable.
As Regional Director, Dr Kluge’s vision for the WHO European Region is “United action for better health”, working in partnership to achieve universal health coverage, address health emergencies and promote healthier populations.
Dr Kluge is from Belgium. He is married and has two daughters.
Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean
Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari from Oman was appointed as WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean by WHO’s Executive Board at its 143rd session and assumed office on 1 June 2018.
Dr Al-Mandhari has made a substantial, positive contribution to the development and modernization of Oman’s health system, which has witnessed qualitative improvements in recent years, particularly in areas such as patient safety.
A specialist in family and community medicine, Dr Al-Mandhari was Head of Quality Management and Development at Sultan Qaboos University Hospital from 2005 to 2006, followed by Deputy Director-General for Clinical Affairs until 2010. In 2013, he was appointed Director-General of Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, later becoming Director-General of the Quality Assurance Centre at the Ministry of Health. Dr Al-Mandhari has also worked as a senior consultant in family medicine and public health in Oman since 2009.
In his acceptance speech to the Executive Board, Dr Al-Mandhari noted that the Region was facing major challenges caused by natural and manmade crises and sociopolitical and economic instability. He identified the main public health priorities as health
emergencies including disease outbreaks, communicable and noncommunicable diseases, health system strengthening, and maternal and child health.
Biography
Letter of representation
Delegation of authority
Dr Takeshi Kasai, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific
Dr Takeshi Kasai began his term as WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific on 1 February 2019, following his nomination by the WHO Regional Committee for the Western Pacific and his appointment by the WHO Executive Board.
The public health career of Dr Kasai began nearly 30 years ago when he was assigned to a remote post on the northeast coast of Japan, providing health-care services for the elderly. His early experiences there impressed upon him
Dr Kasai has worked for WHO for more than 15 years, and at the time of his nomination was Director of Programme Management, the No. 2 position at the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific in Manila, Philippines. As a Technical Officer and later as the Director of the Division of Health Security at the Regional Office, he was instrumental in developing and implementing the Asia Pacific Strategy for Emerging Diseases and Public Health Emergencies, which guides
Dr Kasai also served as the WHO Representative in Viet Nam from 2012 to 2014, and in 2014 received the For the People’s Health Medal from the Government, the top
Dr Kasai is from Japan. He is married and has three daughters.
