Nigeria’s NCDC Boss, Chikwe Ihekweazu has been appointed Assistant Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) in charge of Health Emergency Intelligence with effect from November 1, 2021
In a statement issued last night by the WHO Director-General, Tedros said Ihekweazu will lead the work on strengthening pandemic and epidemic intelligence globally, including heading the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence in Berlin.
He said: “I am pleased to welcome Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu as an Assistant Director-General for Health Emergency Intelligence from November 1, 2021. He will lead the work on strengthening pandemic and epidemic intelligence globally, including heading the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence in Berlin”.
” I am confident that Dr Ihekweazu’s appointment will help further accelerate WHO’s work in health emergencies. Please join me in welcoming him to WHO”.
Ihekweazu who is currently the Director-General of Nigeria Center for Disease Control was trained as an infectious disease epidemiologist.
He comes with over 20 years of experience working in senior public health and leadership positions in several National Public Health Institutes, including the United Kingdom’s Health Protection Agency, the South African National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), and Germany’s Robert Koch Institute (RKI). He has led several short-term engagements for WHO, especially in response to major infectious disease outbreaks around the world.
Ihekweazu who was born in Germany, is a graduate of the College of Medicine, University of Nigeria. He holds a Masters in Public Health (MPH) from the Heinrich-Heine University, Dusseldorf, Germany.
In 2003, he was awarded a Fellowship for the European Programme for Intervention Epidemiology Training (EPIET) and later completed his Public Health specialisation in the United Kingdom. He is widely published in medical peer-review journals.
The WHO’s director-general, Tedros Ghebreyesus, on Wednesday, in an official letter addressed to Ihekweazu, confirmed his appointment as the deputy in charge of health emergency intelligence at the global health organisation.
