Samira Asma

Dr Samira Asma, from the United States of America, is the Assistant Director-General for the Data, Analytics and Delivery for Impact Division. The main responsibilities of this role are to lead the Organization’s efforts to establish an impact framework of accountability to deliver the ‘triple billion’ targets, to track health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), through building enhanced country capacity, and to generate reliable data to forecast and inform public health policy. Dr Asma brings more than 25 years of experience in building teams and meaningful partnerships that lead public health programmes and policies to catalyze substantial and measurable long-term impact.

Dr Asma re-joined WHO in 2018 as the Director for Health Metrics and Measurement and led an organization-wide and multi-partner engagement to develop the 13th General Programme of Work (GPW 13), the WHO Impact Framework and the SDG Global Action Plan milestones with UN partners.

Prior to re-joining WHO, Dr Asma worked at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for over two decades where she developed global programmes on tobacco control and noncommunicable diseases, environmental health, and injuries. Dr Asma is recognized for leading the establishment of a reliable, sustained surveillance system for tobacco control in 180 countries, using innovative technologies to monitor health, generating epidemiologic and economic evidence for policy interventions, and launching a global initiative to reduce heart attacks and strokes – all through global networks and partnerships.

Dr Asma has contributed to more than 100 publications, book chapters and policy papers on epidemiology, surveillance and data driven public health policy, and has earned a degree in dentistry from Bangalore University, India, as well as a Master’s in Public Health from University College London, United Kingdom.