Deborah Mlongo Barasa

Deborah Mlongo Barasa, also Debra Mulongo Barasa (née: Mlongo), is a Kenyan consultant internist, infectious diseases expert and politician. She was the Cabinet Secretary of health in the cabinet of Kenya, from August 2024 until 1 April 2025. Prior to that, she was an infectious diseases consultant at the World Health Organization, based in Nairobi, Kenya.

Background and education She is a Kenyan national. She graduated in 2006, from the University of Nairobi (UoN), with a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degree. Later, she obtained a Master of Medicine in Internal Medicine, also from UoN. As of July 2024, she was pursuing a Master of Science degree in infectious diseases, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. For a period of time she worked as an internal medicine physician at The Mater Misericordiae Hospital, in the Nairobi Industrial Area and as consultant internist at CHANF Community Health Services, based in Kitengela, Kajiado County. Mlongo Barasa was sworn in as the Cabinet Secretary for Health on Thursday, 8 August 2024, a position she held until 1 April 2025. She was replaced by Aden Duale at the health ministry and was appointed as the Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change & Forestry. Later in 2025 she was the Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Forestry when she and Jane Makori met a Chinese delegation.