Democratic Republic of Congo's Dr Jean Kaseya has been selected by the African Union as the next director general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the agency that helps member states deal with health emergencies and design programmes to deal with public health.

It took 180 candidates to compete for the position, but it was the candidate from DRC and one other competitor from Guinea who made it to the finals. Kaseya replaces Cameroonian-American virologist John Nkengasong who, since May 2022, has been leading and overseeing U.S. President Joe Biden's Programme for the Fight Against HIV/AIDs (PEPFAR).

According to the DRC presidency, Kaseya's emergence marks the end of a six-month-long diplomatic battle waged by President Félix Tshisekedi.

Kaseya confirmed his appointment and immediately underscored the importance of working closely with the World Health Organization (WHO) on issues ranging from universal health coverage in Africa to strengthening local manufacturing capacity in the post-COVID era.

"Today, after the confirmation, my first call was with Dr Moeti, Regional Director, WHO/AFRO region to reiterate my commitment to work closely with WHO to address health issues in Africa," he stated, putting aside the rift that opened between the Africa CDC and WHO last summer over the degree of autonomy that Africa CDC should have in declaring regional public health emergencies, reports Health Policy Watch.

According to The East African, Kaseya has over 20-year experience in public health. He is fluent in French and English, and had a career in the DRC and internationally in senior positions including at UNICEF in Congo-Brazzaville and Namibia, where he worked for four and three years, respectively and at the World Health Organisation, where he led the Meningitis Vaccine Project.  He has also been responsible for the African Health Diagnostic Platform/European Investment Bank team (AHDP/EIB). From June 2020 to February 2021, Dr Kaseya served as Global Head of the Africa Polio Team for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In this position, he led the advocacy, implementation and monitoring of emergency operations centres in ten African countries.

Based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the CDC is the largest health organization in Africa. The organization has been very active in combating the Covid-19 pandemic on the continent, particularly by coordinating vaccine distribution.