Dr Ahmed Ogwell Ouma

Dr Ahmed Ogwell Ouma is the Deputy Director of the Africa Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, the specialized Technical Institution of the Union charged with the responsibility to promote the prevention and control of diseases in Africa.

Dr Ouma is an accomplished international civil servant and an expert in global health. He has competency in governance in public health; partnerships and resource mobilisation; health security including health emergencies; the prevention and control of NCDs; building multi-sectoral partnerships; international co-operation across sectors; tobacco control; global health diplomacy; and development of international instruments that impact positively on public health.

Ahmed has worked globally for public health and has overseen implementation of country level policy in countries in Africa. He has been a pioneer in supporting governments in Africa to implement the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) and other international instruments for the prevention and control of NCDs.

Before joining Africa CDC, Ahmed was an Advisor in the Global Coordination Mechanism for NCDs in the Office of the Assistant Director-General for NCDs and Mental Health in The World Health Organization (WHO) headquarters, Geneva. Before that he was Programme Manager for Primary Prevention of NCDs and Regional Adviser for Tobacco Control at the WHO Regional Office for Africa.

At the national level, Dr Ogwell was the founding director for the NCDs department in MoH Kenya and also established the Office for International Health Relations.

He has expertise in how government policy can and should respond to neglected health challenges. Having been a senior civil servant in Kenya for over a decade, he is well versed in how governments work, competence in supporting government to achieve desirable public health goals particularly in resource-poor settings.

Ahmed is an alumni of the University of Nairobi and the Centre for International Health at the University of Bergen in Norway.

"I strongly believe that we should use local capacity to solve local challenges while harnessing international experiences, knowledge and skills."