Dr Dick Chamla leads emergency preparedness portfolio and coordinate Emergency hub in WHO AFRO region, managing and coordinating investments in strengthening capacities among member states in the implementation and compliance of International Health Regulations (IHR) and its monitoring framework, National Action Plan for Health Security (NAPHS), Pandemic Fund support, One Health, and parliamentary engagements in health security. He also provides oversight to the teams that assess and predict risks of high threat pathogens, countries’ readiness capacities, research and innovations for medical countermeasures, and implementation of regional frameworks for the elimination of cholera, yellow fever, and meningitis.
He is currently leading WHO AFRO engagements in Pandemic Treaty negotiations under Inter-governmental Negotiation Body (INB) providing strategic support to Africa Group Plus Egypt.

Dr Chamla is highly experienced in both development and complex emergencies dating 27 years ago, starting with Red Cross refugee program in western Tanzania, conflict affected northern Uganda and Nigeria, Yemen, Somalia, Afghanistan, and more recently leading WHO response in largest cholera outbreak in Malawi and Marburg outbreak in Tanzania.

His expertise in health systems and recovery is anchored in advancing primary health care and optimizing opportunities by technologies such as Artificial Intelligence in achieving both health security agenda and universal health coverage (UHC).

Prior to his current role at WHO AFRO, Dr Chamla ran large health programs at UNICEF in New York and Afghanistan, WHO Geneva, Uganda and IST/Harare, Medecins du Monde in China, New South Wales Health in Australia, and Red Cross Tanzania.

He is humanitarian guru, a strategist, and transformative leader who persevere to instill change, and test new ideas in complex political environments. He convened the first ever high-level parliamentary conference on health security in Ghana, and spearheaded negotiations for the establishment of WHO Emergency hub in Pretoria focusing on research and development, innovations and laboratory.
Dr Chamla holds Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree and Masters in Epidemiology.