By Uche Mbah
Nigeria has moved a notch higher in global appointments with the appointment of Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, currently the Director-General of Center for Disease Control, CDC, as Assistant Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) in charge of Health Emergency Intelligence.
The appointment takes effect from November 1, 2021
In a statement issued by the WHO Director General, Dr Tedros Tuesday, WHO said Ihekweazu will be a frontrunner on strengthening pandemic and epidemic intelligence globally. Part of his core mandate is heading the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence in Berlin.
“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”, Tedros said.
” 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”.
Ihekwazu, a trained infectious disease epidemiologist, has over 20 years of experience as a senior public health worker. He worked at the South African National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), the United Kingdom’s Health Protection Agency, and Germany’s Robert Koch Institute (RKI).
He is a native of Imo State, Nigeria.
