Alaa Abdessaheb al-Alwan

Who is Alaa Abdessaheb al-Alwan?

Ala Abdessaheb al-Alwan was Minister of Education in the cabinet appointed by the Interim Iraq Governing Council in September 2003, and Minister of Health in the Iraqi Interim Government. He left Iraq in 2005 back to the World Health Organization as Assistant Director General based in Geneva, Switzerland. In October 2011, he was elected by Member States for the position of Regional Director of the World Health Organization Region of the Eastern Mediterranean. His appointment was confirmed by the WHO Executive Board in January 2012.

A Muslim and native of Baghdad, al-Alwan was dean of the College of Medicine at Al-Mustansiriya University, Baghdad until 1992, when he joined the staff of the WHO. At the WHO he served as Director of Health Services for the Eastern Mediterranean Region, WHO Representative in Oman and Jordan, and the Director of the Department of Noncommunicable Diseases at WHO headquarters in Geneva.