Zsuzsanna Jakab

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Zsuzsanna Jakab
Deputy Director-General of the
Hans Henri P. Kluge
Director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
In office
2005–2010
Succeeded byMarc Sprenger
Personal details
Born
Zsuzsanna Szántó [1][2]

(1951-05-17) 17 May 1951 (age 72)
NationalityHungarian

Zsuzsanna Jakab (Jakab Ferencné; born 17 May 1951) is a Hungarian public health expert who has been serving as Deputy Director-General of the World Health Organization since 2019. A native of Hungary, she has held a number of high-profile national and international public health policy positions in the last three decades.

Before being appointed Deputy-Director, Jakab was Director of the

Regional Office for Europe in Copenhagen, Denmark. Before her election as Regional Director, Jakab served as the founding Director of the European Union's European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) in Stockholm, Sweden
between 2005 and 2010.

Education

Jakab holds a master's degree from the Faculty of Humanities of the Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest; a postgraduate degree from the University of Political Sciences, Budapest; a diploma in public health from the Nordic College for Public Health in Gothenburg, Sweden; and a postgraduate diploma from the National Institute of Public Administration and Management, Hungary.[3]

Career

Jakab began her career in Hungary's Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in 1975, being responsible for external affairs, including relations with WHO.[4]

Between 1991 and 2002, Jakab worked at the

Regional Office for Europe
in a range of senior management roles, including an appointment as Director of Administration and Management Support. Before this, as Director of Country Health Development, she was in charge of external relations and strategic partnerships: coordinating collaboration with the 51 Member States in the WHO European Region and international partners. During her long tenure with the organization, she also served as Director of the Division of Information, Evidence and Communication and Coordinator of the EUROHEALTH programme.

Between 2002 and 2005, Jakab was State Secretary at the Hungarian Ministry of Health, Social and Family Affairs, where she managed the country's preparations for European Union accession in the area of public health. She played a key role in the negotiations leading up to the Fourth WHO Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health, held in Budapest in June 2004.

Jakab was the founding Director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control in Stockholm from 2005 to 2010.[5] Under her leadership, the agency's staff and budget continued to grow each year.[6]

From 2010, Jakab served as Director of the

Regional Office for Europe in Copenhagen. She was the Hungarian government's candidate[7] and succeeded Marc Danzon on 1 February 2010, becoming the first woman, the first central-eastern European and the first non-doctor to serve in this position.[8] Jakab finished her term as Regional Director in 2019.[9] In March 2019, she was appointed Deputy Director-General of the World Health Organization.[10]

Other activities

Controversy

In 2020, WHO employee Natalia Menabde lodged internal appeals regarding Jakab's modification of her terms of reference and removal of her managerial responsibilities after Jakab took charge as regional director of WHO's Europe office. In its judgement on the case, the Administrative Tribunal of the International Labour Organization (ILO) found that Jakab acted in "flagrant disregard of the complainant's rights."[15]

See also

References

  1. ^ Medicus 2002 (in Hungarian)
  2. ^ Klaudy Reader (in Hungarian)
  3. ^ Zsuzsanna Jakab Advisory Committee: Zsuzsanna Jakab European Health Forum Gastein (EFGH).
  4. ^ Zsuzsanna Jakab Advisory Committee: Zsuzsanna Jakab European Health Forum Gastein (EFGH).
  5. ^ "Former Directors". European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  6. ^ Jillian Deutsch (October 18, 2020), Coronavirus exposes flaws with EU's infectious disease agency Politico Europe.
  7. ^ Jenny Lei Ravelo (May 8, 2019), Exclusive: Questions arise over Tedros' new deputy director-general Devex.
  8. European Voice
  9. ^ "Election of Regional Director 2020". World Health Organization. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  10. ^ "Zsuzsanna Jakab appointed WHO Deputy Director-General". World Health Organization. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  11. ^ Zsuzsanna Jakab Advisory Committee: Zsuzsanna Jakab European Health Forum Gastein (EFGH).
  12. ^ Board GAVI.
  13. ^ Board Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH).
  14. ^ Council World Health Summit.
  15. ^ Jenny Lei Ravelo (May 8, 2019), Exclusive: Questions arise over Tedros' new deputy director-general Devex.

Further reading

Non-profit organization positions
Preceded by Director of the
Regional Office for Europe

2010–2019 		Succeeded by
Hans Henri P. Kluge
Preceded by
 Director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
2005–2010 		Succeeded by
Marc Sprenger
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Zsuzsanna_Jakab&oldid=1198617880"