Brazzaville/Geneva, 19 January 2010 -- Dr Luis Gomes Sambo of Angola was today re-appointed as the World Health Organization’s Regional Director for Africa at the 126th Session of the Executive Board in Geneva, Switzerland.

He was unanimously nominated for re-appointment by Member States at the WHO Regional Committee (RC) meeting held in Kigali, Rwanda in August 2009. The Committee requested the Director-General to propose to the WHO Executive Board to re-appoint him as Regional Director with effect from 1 February 2010.

Congratulating him at the 126th Board meeting, Dr Margaret Chan, the Director-General of the World Health Organization said:” This is a very good day for me to have my brother re-appointed so that we can continue our work and make a difference in the health of the people in Africa including women, especially women. I committed the organization’s performance to be assessed by how we as an organization improve or make a contribution to improving the health of women in the world but of course improving the health of people in Africa. We will live up to this commitment”, she said.

Speaking on behalf of the 46 Member States of the WHO African region, Dr Ali Djibo from Niger Republic, expressed sincere thanks to the Executive Board for confirming the unanimous nomination of the Regional Director by Member States.

“The reasons for his unanimous election are the following: the intrinsic competence of Dr Sambo, his managerial qualities, the significant progress that the region has made during his mandate and his deep knowledge of health systems from the tertiary to the periphery including the community level. Member States of the African region renew their confidence in him and wish him every success in pursuing this noble mission,” he said.

In his acceptance speech the Regional Director expressed his gratitude to Governments of all the 46 Member States of WHO in the African region in particular the Ministers of Health for their overwhelming expression of confidence. He said that despite some progress made in improving the health situation in Africa, Maternal Mortality, Child Mortality, HIV/AIDS, Malaria, Tuberculosis, Neglected Tropical Diseases, Epidemics and the emerging burden of chronic diseases are still hitting very hard particularly the poorest segments of the population in Africa.

“Limited access to quality health care and other social determinants of health is still a critical issue for which there is a need for a more equitable management of resources at all levels. Towards this endeavour, primary health care remains the underpinning approach”, he stressed.

Referring to the current state towards the attainment of the health MDGs, he underscored the need for accelerating the pace of implementation in Africa and told delegates that the recently updated Country Cooperation Strategies will guide WHO action at country level.

“Particular emphasis will be placed on: the analysis of the health situation and trends to provide required evidence for the best policy options; the development and enforcement of WHO norms and standards; the promotion of health research and the technical inputs to support the implementation of priority health programmes and related interventions”, he added.

The Regional Director however expressed concern about the limited budget capacity to support Member-States in the areas of: Health Systems Management, Health Information Systems (HIS), Non Communicable Diseases, Maternal Health and Neglected tropical Diseases.

“If WHO funding was more flexible and predictable, we could address health issues in a more holistic manner using systems approach and providing a more efficient support to Member States”, he emphasised.Prior to joining WHO, Dr Sambo was the Vice Minister of Health in Angola from 1983-1989. He has served in various positions within WHO including Chief of the Inter-Country Strategic Support Team for Southern African Countries, WHO Country Representative for Guinea Bissau, Head of Health For All Strategy, Director of the Division of Health Systems and Services Development, and Director of Programme Management at the Regional Office.

He is fluent in spoken and written Portuguese, French and English.

For further information please contact :

Collins Boakye-Agyemang, 
Communications & Advocacy Officer,
Regional Director’s Office
World Health Organisation Africa Regional Office
B.P. 06 Djoue, 
Brazzaville
Republic of Congo 
E-mail: Boakyec [at] afro.who.int (Boakyec[at]afro[dot]who[dot]int) 
Tel: 00 472 413 9420