President William Ruto’s Health Cabinet Secretary nominee, Dr Deborah Mulongo Barasa, has 15 years’ experience and had a stint at the World Health Organisation, a profile of her shared by State House shows.
Dr Barasa, who will take over from Susan Nakhumicha, should her nomination be approved by Parliament, is a medical doctor specialising in internal medicine and infectious diseases.
“Over 15 years field experience as a senior officer with progression to an internal medicine physician and technical advisor having worked in health institutions both national, referral, private and community-based organisations,” State House indicates on her official profile.
State House’s profile of Dr Barasa also showed that she co-led the infectious disease pillar addressing outbreak-prone infections such as respiratory infections (Covid-19, diphtheria), viral haemorrhagic fevers like Ebola and small vessel disease (SVD) as well as contagious diarrhoea (cholera).
The new Health CS nominee graduated from the University of Nairobi (UoN) in 2006 with a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery, has a Masters of Medicine in Internal Medicine from the same institution and is currently pursuing a Master’s of Science in Infectious Diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Dr Barasa has worked at Mater Hospital where she was an internal medicine physician, CHANF Community Health Services (CHANF-CNS) which is based in Kitengela, Kajiado County as a consultant physician on the same and is currently working at the World Health Organisation (WHO) Africa Hub which is based in Nairobi before President Ruto appointed her to the helm of the health ministry.
“I establish sustainable programs in Eastern Southern Africa, support member states in developing and implementing national action plans, and offer technical guidance on global policies and guidelines,” Dr Barasa highlights on her official LinkedIn profile.
She also explains that apart from internal medicine/infectious disease her core competencies include communicable and non-communicable disease prevention and control for clinical cases and public health programs.
Developing technical products
“I am passionate about improving the quality of life and health outcomes for people affected by communicable and non-communicable diseases and empowering health workers and stakeholders with the knowledge and skills to prevent and control diseases. I also have a strong background in developing technical products ( guidelines, assessment tools, training modules, SOPs etc), conducting monitoring and evaluation, partner engagement, leadership and coordination from regional, national to facility as well as community level,” the incoming Health CS adds.
While reacting to Dr Barasa’s appointment, a senior health ministry official said that they were disappointed.
Nation reached out to Dr Barasa on her known mobile number, but she declined to comment on it.
