Ahmed Ogwell Ouma

Ahmed E. Ogwell Ouma (born 1969) is a Kenyan public health specialist working in health policy, health security, global health diplomacy and non-communicable diseases. He was the acting director and deputy director-general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. He is the vice president for global health strategy at the United Nations Foundation.

Early life and education Ahmed Ogwell was born and raised in the seaside city of Mombasa, Kenya. He attended his early schooling in Mombasa, progressed to Lenana School in Nairobi for his secondary education and later joined the University of Nairobi, where he completed a Bachelor's in Dental Surgery and a master's degree in Public Health (MPH). In 2000 he moved to the University of Bergen where he attained a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in International Health.

Career

Ogwell became interested in working in health after being ill as a child. While at medical school, he decided to focus on prevention and control of diseases rather than doing clinical work. Having lost both his parents and his sister to cancer, Ogwell worked on the prevention of non-communicable diseases. He started at the Ministry of Health, where he led the work of non-communicable diseases and later moved to set up the Office for International Health Relations. He then moved to the World Health Organization to lead the Secretariat of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

Ogwell has led the Africa CDC to advocate for the New Public Health Order, which is a vision for Africa to reset its role in global health security.

Ogwell was appointed the vice president for global strategy at the UN Foundation in May 2024.

Select publications

Personal life Ogwell is married with children.