Dr Jean-Marie Okwo-Bele

Public health consultant, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Former director of the Vaccines and Immunization Department, WHO Headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland (retired)

Biography

Doctor Jean-Marie Okwo-Bele provides consultancy and board advisory services on vaccine research and development, vaccine implementation and governance of national immunization programmes. He is a member of the Leadership Coalition Group of the World Federation of Public Health Associations.

As Director of the WHO Vaccines and Immunization Programme (2004–2017), Dr Okwo-Bele led the Organization’s vaccine research, vaccine standards and vaccine delivery activities and enhanced the WHO’s vaccine policy recommendations processes. Previously, he was Chief of UNICEF Global Immunization Activities, Head of the WHO Immunization programme in Africa and National Coordinator of the Immunization Programme in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). He began his public health career in 1981, contributing to the WHO special surveillance programme on mpox and Ebola viruses in DRC.

Author of over 30 articles and book chapters, Dr Okwo-Bele received his medical degree from the Medical School of the University of Kinshasa, DRC, and his Master of Public Health from the Johns Hopkins Blomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, USA.  

Dr Okwo-Bele served on the IHR Review Committee on the Functioning of the International Health Regulations (2005) during the COVID-19 response, as well as Chair of the IHR Emergency Committee on the multi-country outbreak of mpox.