Follow Us on Google
By Doris Obinna
The Director of National Commission for Disease Control (NCDC), Mr Chike Ihekweazu has been appointed by World Health Organisation (WHO), as the assistant director-general of the Health Emergency Intelligence.
The WHO’s director-general, Tedros Ghebreyesus, on Wednesday, in an official letter addressed to Mr Ihekweazu, confirmed his appointment as the deputy in charge of health emergency intelligence at the global health organisation.
Ihekweazu who is still serving as the head of Nigeria’s infectious disease agency, the letter disclosed that he will assume the new office on November 1, 2021, and will be in charge of WHO’s pandemic and epidemic response hub in Berlin, Germany.
Part of the letter reads: “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,” the letter reads in part.
Ihekweazu, who currently heads the NDCDC was trained as an infectious disease epidemiologist with more than 20 years of experience working in senior public health and leadership positions in several national public health institutes.
