Ren Minghui

Dr. Ren Minghui was appointed WHO Assistant Director-General for HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases on 4 January 2016. Prior to that, he was Director-General for International Cooperation in the National Health and Family Planning Commission of the People’s Republic of China. Between 1987 and 2001, Dr Ren worked on health policy and health reform in China’s Ministry of Health, focusing primarily on health systems research in rural China and health insurance reform in urban China. After 2001, his work focused on international health cooperation. He led a number of health committees and programmes, working closely with international partners, including the government of the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Australia, as well as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. He oversaw the development of the China-Africa health cooperation process, and innovative programmes to deploy Chinese Medical Teams in African countries. He initiated health cooperation with BRICS countries, and engaged in regional health cooperation with ASEAN, APEC and countries of the Greater Mekong subregion. Dr Ren has worked extensively on global health governance and has represented the government of China at a number of international fora. He was Vice-chair of WHO’s Executive Board, member of the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board, and representative of the Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. He has also served as member of the Strategy and Coordination Group of the Every Woman Every Child initiative. Dr Ren has a Medicine Degree from Xian Medical University, China (1987), a Master of Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health (1993), an executive training certificate in public policy and administration from the Harvard JFK School of Government, USA (2004), and a PhD in Social Medicine and Health from Peking University, China (2008). Dr Ren received an honorary award by the Russian Federation for his contribution to health cooperation in 2006, and was awarded the “Ordre National du Mérite” by France for his efforts to advance collaboration on the prevention and control of emerging diseases in 2015.