Dr Haileyesus Getahun

Dr Haileyesus Getahun is Director of the Department of Global Coordination and Partnership (GCP) on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) at the World Health Organization (WHO). In this capacity, he is also Director of the Joint Tripartite (FAO/OIE/WHO) Secretariat on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) that coordinate the joint work of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and WHO. Dr Getahun was formerly the Director of the Secretariat of the United Nations (UN) Interagency Coordination Group on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) which was established by the UN Secretary General and released the 2019 ground- breaking report on how to respond to the global AMR crisis. Prior to his work on AMR, Dr Getahun was a coordinator in the Global Tuberculosis Programme (GTB) at WHO and led their efforts on tuberculosis (TB) prevention, HIV-associated TB, as well as integrated community-based TB activities. He has extensive experience in developing global TB and HIV policies and programmes, as well as in identifying research priorities and facilitating their implementation at a global scale. He has played a major role in designing global advocacy strategies to integrate TB prevention, care and treatment including TB drug-resistance into major global and national HIV/AIDS, maternal and child health platforms and initiatives. He was recipient of the prestigious Union Scientific Prize in November 2011 for "his contributions to the development of evidence-based TB and HIV policy and practice and for helping in setting the global advocacy agenda for worldwide response among stakeholders’’. Before joining WHO in 2003, Dr Getahun worked in several public health areas including communicable diseases, sexual and reproductive health, nutrition and health systems research in both government and non-governmental sectors. He was trained as a medical doctor in Ethiopia and obtained a Master’s in Public Health and a PhD in public health and epidemiology from the University of Brussels, Ghent University and Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium respectively. He has contributed to several peer reviewed publications on different topics and has written several scientific book chapters.