The World Health Organization’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has appointed Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu to serve as the organization’s acting regional director for Africa. He replaces Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, who led the regional office for ten years.
This appointment comes after the unexpected death of Dr. Faustine Engelbert Ndugulile, a career politician from Tanzania, who was slated to be the next regional director. He died in November, only three months after he was elected.
Ihekweazu, who is Nigerian, is the assistant director-general for the division of health emergency intelligence and surveillance systems in the emergencies program at WHO. He joined WHO in 2021. Prior to that, he served as the inaugural director-general of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, where he helped build the institution from the ground up and helped the country navigate the COVID-19 pandemic. He recently published a book about this experience, with his wife Vivianne.
About the author
Sara Jervingsarajerving
Sara Jerving is a Senior Reporter at Devex, where she covers global health. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, VICE News, and Bloomberg News among others. Sara holds a master's degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism where she was a Lorana Sullivan fellow. She was a finalist for One World Media's Digital Media Award in 2021; a finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists in 2018; and she was part of a VICE News Tonight on HBO team that received an Emmy nomination in 2018. She received the Philip Greer Memorial Award from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 2014.
