Independent Oversight and Advisory Committee for the WHO Health Emergencies Programme (IOAC) The IOAC is mandated to oversee and guide the WHO Health Emergencies Programme in coordinating all of WHO’s work in emergencies, to advise the Director-General on issues within its mandate and to report its findings to the World Health Assembly.

The Committee consists of up to 12 members drawn from national governments, NGOs, the UN system, donors, the private sector, academia, and civil society, with extensive experience in a broad range of disciplines.

Members serve in their personal capacity and exercise their responsibilities with full regard for the paramount importance of independence.

Professor Walid Ammar

Director of the Doctorate and Research in Public Health Program at St. Joseph University in Beirut

Chair of the Kofi Annan Foundation Board, and former Secretary General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent

Dr Felicity Harvey

Visiting Professor, Institute of Global Health Innovation, Imperial College London, former Director General for Public and International Health, HMG UK

Professor Samba O. Sow

Director-General of the Center for Vaccine Development

Dr Hiroyoshi Endo

Professor Emeritus, Graduate School of Public Health, St.Luke’s International University, Tokyo

Dr Geeta Rao Gupta

United States Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues

Ms Malebona Precious Matsoso

Director of the Health Regulatory Science Platform, a division of the Wits Health Consortium at the University of the Witwatersrand

Dr Michael Ryan

Executive Director, WHO Health Emergencies Programme