His Excellency Dr. Jean Kaseya is the first Director General of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Jean Kaseya is a Congolese Medical Doctor with master’s degrees in Epidemiology and Community Health.
He has over 25 years of experience in public health, working at both international institutions and the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Dr. Jean Kaseya has been elected as Director General of Africa-CDC for a term of 4 years by the African Heads of State on the sidelines of the 36th African Union Summit, which was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Dr. Kaseya has over 25 years of experience in managing public health programs including policy development, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of innovative, impactful and integrated people-centered health services in Africa thanks to his professional engagement with various Governments, CHAI, WHO, UNICEF, Gavi, GFATM, BMGF, CDC, and CSOs).
Dr. Kaseya has more than 25 years of experience in leading negotiation and coordination mechanisms, and managing large grants from Governments and international donors (BMGF, World Bank, EU/EIB, UNITAID, JICA, USAID, PEPFAR, GFATM, Gavi, DFID, etc.) thanks to extensive network that he built with major Global Health partners.
Dr. Kaseya’s prior roles include nine years with UNICEF, two years with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, as well as work with the World Health Organization where he led the development of the Meningitis A investment case in addition to being Senior Advisor for Emergency response.
With the DRC Government, he plays various political, strategic and technical roles including Senior Adviser to the President, Head of routine immunization with the National Expanded Programme on Immunization officer and Chief Medical Officer leading a Health Zone.
He has a strong experience working with local NGOs. He was Senior Team Lead of SANRU, the largest National Public Health Organization in DRC.
He recently worked with the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), where he served as Global Team Lead for the African Health Diagnostics Platform with the European Investment Bank and Bill and Melinda gates Foundation. He was also Senior Country Director for CHAI DRC.
Currently, Dr. Kaseya serves as TRP (Technical review Panel) member of GFATM for Malaria and Pandemic Preparedness. He is also Board member of SANRU (the largest National Public Health Organization in DRC).
Dr. Kaseya will oversee the delivery of the core functions and key objectives of the organization, as per its statute. The DG will also be responsible for the formulation and implementation of substantive work programs for the Regional Collaborating Centers and ensure that programmed activities are carried out in a timely fashion.
His overarching task is to lead the agency in its quest to ensure global health security for populations across Africa. This includes strengthening disease surveillance, working with countries to strengthen health systems, and responding to health emergencies.