The Public Health Minister of Afghanistan at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Humanitarian Perspectives Annual Lecture 2018
“Health Gains in a Mix of Conflict and Development”
Dr Ferozuddin Feroz, Public Health Minister of Afghanistan, will deliver the Centre’s Humanitarian Perspectives Annual Lecture which focuses on the work of outstanding individuals who improve the health and well-being of populations in times of crisis. His Excellency Dr Feroz will discuss the changing face of Afghanistan before 2001 and his efforts, initially as Deputy Minister of Public Health and then as Minister, to ensure a well-functioning, inclusive and resilient health system in an increasingly complex context of armed conflict and emergencies.
The event will commence with an introduction from Professor Baron Peter Piot, Director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and the talk will be followed by a panel discussion and Q&A session with Dr Ferozzudin Feroz, Ahmad Jan Naeem, Dr Sayed Saeedzai, and Stephanie Simmonds. The discussion will be facilitated by Dr Karl Blanchet, Director of the Health in Humanitarian Crises Centre.
Bios
Dr Ferozuddin Feroz: In February 2015, His Excellency Dr Ferozuddin Feroz was appointed as the Minister of Public Health of the National Unity Government of Afghanistan. He is a medical graduate of Kabul University with an MSc in Public Health Management from the UK London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London and an MBA from the International Institute of Health Management Research, Jaipur, India. Between 2002 and 2004, when there was an interim govenrment in place, Dr Feroz was the Technical Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Public Health. Between 2005 and 2014, he did consultancy work for donors both within Afghanistan and in other countries including in India and South Sudan. He has published a number of academic papers. Dr Feroz was appointed Minister of Public Health in the National Unity Government in February 2015.
Ahmad Jan Naeem MB BS: Ahmad Jan is a medical doctor with vast experience in health systems development in post-conflict settings. During his 27-year career, he has worked for both national and international health institutions and organisations. These include government, and international and national NGOs. Between 2012-2015, he served as a member of the Program and Policy Committee of the Executive Board of GAVI. He has also been a member of the Steering Committee of ACBAR, an Afghan NGO coordinating body. Deputy Minister Ahmad Jan joined the Ministry of Public Health in 2003 as the Director of Health Care Financing Department and consultant for contracting for primary health care services. In 2005, he was promoted as Head of the Grants and Contracting Unit, popularly known as GCMU. In 2007, he was appointed as Acting General Director of Policy and Planning of the Ministry. Since 2012, he has been Deputy Minister of Policy and Planning. He is Chair of the CCM Afghanistan.
Dr Sayed Saeedzai MD MSc: Sayed Saeedzai qualified as a doctor from Kabul Medical University in 2003 and received his Master Degree of Science in Epidemiology and Bio-Statistics in 2008 from the Aga Khan University. He has worked as Director General of Evaluation and Health Information System (EHIS) in the Ministry of Public Health since 2015. He had previously worked in research, M&E and public health program management with different NGOs in Afghanistan such as; Medical Sciences for Health, the Aga Khan Health Services, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Aga Khan University, and BRAC and has worked as consultant with KPMG the local fund agent for the Global Fund. Dr. Saeedzai has also been a lecturer in biostatistics for public health students at Kabul Medical University. In addition he has been principle investigator and co-investigator for a number of health research studies, which have been published in national and international journals.
Stephanie Simmonds OBE MPhil FFPH: Stephanie has over 45 years experience in international development and humanitarian affairs related to public health. Her particular strength is that her experience has been from the grass roots up – from practice to policy. In the 1970s she worked with NGOs on digging latrines, preventing epidemics, promoting health and protecting human rights at the community level in health development, among refugee populations and in times of famine. This field experience, when in academia at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine for 10 years, translated into publishing the first textbook on refugee public health and teaching rich with reality on-the-ground. She left the School to be a DFID Senior Health Adviser for 8 years, two of which she was seconded to the World Health Organization as the WHO Special Representative for the last two years of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. And in more recent years working freelance on advising on the policy and strategic approach of ministers, governments, donors, the UN, World Bank, the Economic Forum and the technical panels of global organizations such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the GAVI Alliance and UNITAID. Her main interests are in policy, strategic, institutional, systems, management and capacity development and helping close the gap between policy and effective implementation. One of her mantras is context, context, context! Work has mainly in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Central Europe. In many of these places the work has been in refugee, conflict, post conflict and famine environments. She is currently senior adviser and mentor to Dr Feroz, the Minister of Public Health, Afghanistan. She worked with him when he was deputy minister 2002-2004, and currently has worked with him since soon after his appointment in 2015.
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