Magda Robalo Correia e Silva
High Commission for COVID-19 High Commissioner for COVID-19
Magda Robalo is the High Commissioner for COVID-19 since June 2020, leading the national response to the pandemic in her home country, Guinea-Bissau.
She was the Minister of Public Health in the first parity Government (2019-2020), served as World Health Organization’s (WHO) Representative to South Africa (ai), Zambia (ai) in 2007, Namibia and Ghana (2008-2015) and WHO’s Director of Communicable Diseases in the African Region (2015-2018).
She is the Chair of the Ethics and Governance Committee of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, member of the Malaria Elimination-8 Board and Women and Global Health Advisor. She has recently been appointed as member of the WHO Global Expert Panel on Health Emergency and Disaster Risk Management.
A medical doctor by profession (Universidade do Porto, 1988) and a member of the Portuguese Medical Association, she holds a post-graduate diploma in Public Health and Tropical Medicine (Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 1990) and a Master of Science degree in Epidemiology (Université Laval, 2003).
Dr Magda Robalo leads an outstanding career of over 30 years in public health, social development, gender equity, diplomacy and international relations.