Dr Nuha Mahmoud

Dr Nuha Mahmoud is the acting Head of the WHO Representative Office for Samoa, American Samoa, Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau. She concurrently serves as the Team Coordinator of the Pacific Health Security and Communicable Diseases Unit at WHO’s Division of Pacific Technical Support. She leads a team of international and national experts, working to enhance core capacities for emergency preparedness and response, strengthen routine immunization, and address public health challenges, including TB, HIV, hepatitis, as well as vector-borne and neglected tropical diseases across 21 Pacific Island countries and territories. Dr Mahmoud has also been deployed to support the humanitarian and emergency health response in the Occupied Palestinian Territory in January 2024.

With over 29 years of experience in clinical medicine, public health, emergency response, and research, Dr Mahmoud brings extensive experience from both national government roles and over two decades of service in various WHO functions. Prior to her current position in the Division of Pacific Technical Support, Dr Mahmoud was the Head of Aden Office in Yemen, where she managed a diverse portfolio of emergency and non-emergency programmes. She has also held key positions in health crises, including as WHO Technical Coordinator for Ebola in Liberia, and has worked in complex settings such as Darfur and South Sudan, building deep expertise in tropical and communicable disease management.

Dr Mahmoud is a medical doctor by profession and holds an MSc degree in Disease Control from the Prince Leopold Institute of Tropical Medicine in Belgium. She is a member of Leishmaniasis East African Research Platform (LEAP) and an independent consultant of African Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi) with 11 years of experience as a member on Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) on clinical trials on combination therapy.