Dr. Benjamin Djoudalbaye, MD, MSc. MPH, Pg. Dipl. Infectious Diseases, is Head of Policy, Health Diplomacy and Communication at the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. He was appointed in May 2020 as Executive Secretary of the African Union COVID-19 Response Fund. Prior to that, he was for more than 8 years Senior Health Officer for HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, Malaria and other Infectious Diseases at the African Union Commission. He was the Head of Mission of the African Union Support to Ebola Outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo from May 2017 to October 2018. He was also the Head of Mission Support for African Union Support to Ebola in West Africa (ASEOWA) in 2014-2015, and later Head of Mission for Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Dr. Djoudalbaye has individually and collectively contributed to significant achievements in the area of setting public health priorities under the leadership of the African Union Commission through the strengthening of resilient health systems at various levels on the continent.
Dr. Djoudalbaye has strong professional experience in emergency preparedness and response, strategic planning, administration, management and evaluation of public health policies and programs, infectious diseases programmes and projects, capacity building and operational research across Africa. He has also knowledge of coordination mechanisms including multidisciplinary and multi-sectoral teams, partnership development, negotiation skills, advocacy and resource mobilization, multilateral and bilateral cooperation across the public and private sectors and civil society. He has demonstrated track record of building strong working relationships with leaders in the public, private and non-governmental sectors.
Dr. Djoudalbaye is a proficient bilingual (French and English) author and co-author of several scientific articles in peer-reviewed in journals and has published a book in psychiatry.