Dr Melitta Jakab

Melitta Jakab is Head of Office of the WHO European Centre for Primary Health Care (Almaty) in Kazakhstan. She has 20 years of experience in health system strengthening, supporting countries to move towards universal health coverage through stronger primary health care and better health financing policies. She has been co-director of the Barcelona courses on health systems strengthening and health financing. She is co-editor of 3 major publications – “Implementing the primary health care approach: a primer”, “Health systems respond to noncommunicable diseases: time for ambition”, and “Implementing health financing reform: lessons from countries in transition”. She is currently a Lancet Commissioner for Primary Health Care. Prior to joining WHO, she worked at the World Bank. She has a doctorate in health policy/economics from Harvard University and master’s in health policy from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.