View source for Alaa Abdessaheb al-Alwan

{{Short description|Iraqi politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2025}}
'''Ala Abdessaheb al-Alwan''' (born 1949) was Minister of Education in the cabinet appointed by the [[Interim Iraq Governing Council]] in September 2003, and Minister of Health in the [[Iraqi Interim Government]].

In September 2019, Alwan officially resigned as the Health Minister of Iraq, following alleged political pressure and defamatory attempts against him. It was the second resignation that Prime Minister [[Adil Abdul-Mahdi]] received from him after March.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ina.iq/eng/5990/Minister_of_Health_Alaa_Al-Alwan_resigns|title=Minister of Health Alaa Al-Alwan resigns|accessdate=15 September 2019|website=Iraq News}}</ref>

==Education and career==
Alwan graduated in Medicine from the [[University of Alexandria]]. He practiced medicine in Scotland and obtained his postgraduate training and qualifications in the United Kingdom. Following his return to Iraq, he held several positions in clinical and academic medicine and public health. He was Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, [[Al-Mustansiriya University]], Baghdad.<ref>{{cite web|title=Lancet-O'Neill Institute, Georgetown University Commission on Global Health and Law|url=https://www.law.georgetown.edu/oneillinstitute/research/lancet/commissioners.cfm|website=Lancet-O'Neill Institute, Georgetown University Commission on Global Health and Law|publisher=Georgetown University|accessdate=5 August 2016}}</ref>

Alwan left Iraq in 2005 back to the [[World Health Organization]], where he held several leading positions at the World Health Organization based in [[Geneva, Switzerland]] including Assistant Director General for noncommunicable diseases and mental health, and Representative of the Director General  for emergencies and health action in crises. 

In October 2011, he was elected by Member States for the position of Regional Director of the World Health Organization Region of the Eastern Mediterranean (covering Arab countries, Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan). His appointment was confirmed by the WHO Executive Board in January 2012. 

After his retirement, Alwan served on the selection committee that chose [[Peter Sands (banker)|Peter Sands]] to succeed [[Mark Dybul]] as executive director of the [[Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria]] (GFATM) in 2017.<ref>[https://www.theglobalfund.org/board-decisions/b37-dp10/ GF/B37/DP10, approved by the Board on 4 May 2017: Appointment of the 2017 Executive Director Nomination Committee Membership] [[Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria]] (GFATM).</ref> He was subsequently appointed by WHO Director-General [[Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus]] to serve on the Independent High-level Commission on Non-Communicable Diseases from 2018 until 2019.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20180206011119/http://www.who.int/ncds/governance/high-level-commission/mission/commissioners/en/ WHO Independent High-level Commission on NCDs] [[World Health Organization]] (WHO).</ref>

==Other activities==
* [[World Health Summit]] (WHS), Member of the Council<ref>[https://www.worldhealthsummit.org/about-whs/leadership.html Council] [[World Health Summit]].</ref>
* ''[[Disease Control Priorities Project|DCP3]]'', Member of the Advisory Committee to the Editors<ref>[http://dcp-3.org/node/193 Advisory Committee] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171213033434/http://dcp-3.org/node/193 |date=13 December 2017 }} [[Disease Control Priorities Project]].</ref>
* ''[[The Lancet|Lancet]]''-O'Neill Institute Georgetown University Commission on Global Health and Law, Member<ref>{{cite web|title=Lancet-O'Neill Institute, Georgetown University Commission on Global Health and Law|url=https://www.law.georgetown.edu/oneillinstitute/research/lancet/commissioners.cfm|website=Lancet-O'Neill Institute, Georgetown University Commission on Global Health and Law|publisher=Georgetown University|accessdate=5 August 2016}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite web|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3199561.stm|title=Iraq's post-war cabinet|access-date=24 February 2006|author=BBC News| date=1 September 2003}}
*{{cite web|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3766401.stm|author=BBC News|title=Interim Iraqi government|access-date=24 February 2006 | date=1 June 2004| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060125051123/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3766401.stm| archive-date= 25 January 2006 | url-status= live}}

{{s-start}}
{{succession box | 
 title=Minister of Health| 
 before=[[Coalition Provisional Authority]]| 
 years= September 2003&ndash;June 2004| 
 after=[[Sami Mudahfar]]
}}
{{succession box |
 title=Minister of Health|
 before=[[Khodayyir Abbas]]|
 years=June 2004&ndash;May 2005|
 after=[[Abdel Muttalib Mohammed Ali]]
}}
{{succession box |
 title=Minister of Health and environment |
 before=[[Adela Humood Alaboudi]]|
 years=October 2018&ndash;15 September 2019|
 after= [[Jaffar Allawi]]
}}
{{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alwan, Alaa Abdessaheb al-}}
[[Category:1949 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Iraqi physicians]]
[[Category:Public health doctors]]
[[Category:Health ministers of Iraq]]
[[Category:Politicians from Baghdad]]
[[Category:Iraqi Shia Muslims]]
[[Category:Alexandria University alumni]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Al-Mustansiriya University]]
[[Category:World Health Organization officials]]
[[Category:Iraqi officials of the United Nations]]
[[Category:Education ministers of Iraq]]


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