By Enyichukwu Enemanna
The African Union has selected Democratic Republic of Congo’s Dr Jean Kaseya as the new Director General of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).
The organisation is charged with the responsibility of helping member states of the bloc to deal with health emergencies and design programmes to deal with public health.
Kaseya’s candidacy was approved by African heads of state in Addis Ababa at the just concluded 36th session of the 55-nation bloc.
Kaseya will take over from Cameroonian-American virologist John Nkengasong who, since May 2022, has been leading and overseeing U.S. President Joe Biden’s Programme for the Fight Against HIV/AIDs (PEPFAR).
Out of the 180 candidates who indicated interest for the job, only Kaseya and another candidate from Guinea made it to the finals.
According to the DRC presidency, Kaseya’s emergence marks the end of a six-month-long diplomatic battle waged by President Félix Tshisekedi to ensure his country occupies the position.
Kaseya while confirming his emergence pledge to work closely with the World Health Organization (WHO) on issues ranging from universal health coverage in Africa to strengthening local manufacturing capacity in the post-COVID era.
“Today, after the confirmation, my first call was with Dr Moeti, Regional Director, WHO/AFRO region to reiterate my commitment to work closely with WHO to address health issues in Africa,” he stated.
This may have put to rest the disagreement between the Africa CDC and WHO last summer over the degree of autonomy that Africa CDC should have in declaring regional public health emergencies, reports Health Policy Watch.
According to The East African, Kaseya has over 20-year experience in public health and had a career in the DRC and internationally in senior positions including at UNICEF in Congo-Brazzaville and Namibia, where he worked for four and three years, respectively and at the World Health Organisation, where he led the Meningitis Vaccine Project.
He has also been responsible for the African Health Diagnostic Platform/European Investment Bank team (AHDP/EIB).
