Ahmed E. Ogwell Ouma (born 1969) is a Kenyan epidemiologist and the acting director of the

Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) is a public health agency of the African Union to support the public health initiatives of member states and strengthen the capacity of their health institutions to deal with dis ...

. He is an expert in non-communicable diseases.

Early life and education

Ogwell is from

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

. He was at school in

Mombasa Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of the British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital city status. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is ...

. He attended the

University Of Nairobi , mottoeng = In unity and work , image = Uon emblem.gif , image_size = 210px , caption = Coat of Arms of the University , type = Public , endowment ...

, where he completed a Bachelor's in Dental Surgery and a master's degree at the School Of Public Health. In 2000 he moved to the University of Bergen.

Career

Having lost both his parents and his sister to cancer, Ogwell has dedicated his career to the prevention of non-communicable diseases. He started at the Ministry of Health, where he oversaw the division of non-communicable diseases. He worked with the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

to create the

Framework Convention on Tobacco Control The World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) is a treaty adopted by the 56th World Health Assembly held in Geneva, Switzerland on 21 May 2003. It became the first World Health Organization treaty adopted under ...

. He started working with the

, where he was an advisor for the Global Coordination Mechanism on non-communicable diseases. Ogwell was hired as the deputy director for

in 2019. He assumed the role of acting director in 2022 when Dr. John Nkengasong took the position of US ambassador to PEPFAR. Ogwell supported Nkengasong during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

response as the liaison for partnerships. In 2022 he attempted to attend the

Global Health Conference. He was held up at

Frankfurt Airport Frankfurt Airport (; german: link=no, Flughafen Frankfurt Main , also known as ''Rhein-Main-Flughafen'') is a major international airport located in Frankfurt, the fifth-largest city of Germany and one of the world's leading financial centres ...

, where he was, "“mistreated.. by immigration personnel who imagine I want to stay back illegally,". However he was able to eventually make it to the conference per the WHO representatives coordinating the even

Select publications

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Personal life

Ogwell is married with children.

References

Living people 1969 births University of Nairobi alumni Epidemiologists {{Improve categories, date=November 2022