Hans Kluge

Dr Kluge's public health experience spans more than 25 years. He began his career as a family doctor in Belgium. His first international work experience came while on assignment with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Belgium in 1995, during which time he worked on emergencies in Liberia and Somalia, coordinating a tuberculosis (TB) control program and providing medical and public health services in conflict zones. He continued his work for MSF in the area of TB control with a posting in Siberia, where he coordinated TB programs in prisons. He later served as MSF’s Regional TB Advisor for former Soviet Union countries, at which point he was based in Moscow, Russia.

Dr Kluge joined the World Health Organization in 1999 when he became the TB and TB-HIV Project Manager for the WHO Country Office in Moscow. In this role, he supported the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the WHO TB and MDR-TB program in 26 oblasts. In 2004, he moved to a position within the WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia, where he was responsible for TB, AIDS, and malaria programs in Myanmar and consulted on TB control programmes in North Korea and Thailand.

In 2009, he became the Acting Director of Country Health Systems and the Unit Head of Country Policies and Systems at the WHO Regional Office for Europe in Copenhagen, Denmark. In 2010, he moved into the position of Director of the Division of Health Systems and Public Health, which he held until his election as Regional Director. During this time, he also served as Special Representative of the Regional Director to Combat Multi/Extensively Drug Resistant Tuberculosis. As Director of the Division of Health Systems and Public Health, Dr Kluge led the development of a new WHO European Region vision on health systems for prosperity and solidarity; drove work on a regional study on universal health coverage and financial protection; and prioritized a focus on service delivery, including integrated and primary health care. He supported large-scale system transformations in countries of the WHO European Region, including the introduction of community-based primary health care in Greece during the financial crisis, helped spearhead the implementation of the Tallinn Charter, and worked to advance commitments adopted at the Global Conference on Primary Health Care in Astana, Kazakhstan, in 2018.

In 2019, Belgium proposed Dr Kluge as a candidate for the position of WHO Regional Director for Europe. He was nominated on 17 September 2019 at the annual meeting of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe, the governing body for the WHO European Region. He was 1 of 6 candidates for the post. In his address to delegates following his nomination, Dr Kluge said, "The objective is to strengthen WHO/Europe as a centre of excellence to give concrete help to countries on concrete issues, to work with determination and modesty to increase the impact at the country level, and to decrease the burden on countries – not least the small countries…The road is long, the mountains are steep, the instruments are few, but the solidarity is great".

Dr Kluge's nomination was endorsed by the WHO Executive Board and he took office as the Regional Director on 1 February 2020. He succeeded Dr. Zsuzsanna Jakab, who held the post of Regional Director for Europe from 2010-2019.

As WHO Regional Director for Europe, Dr Kluge introduced a new strategic vision for the WHO European Region, called "United action for better health".[4] When introducing the vision, Dr Kluge said, "Together, we must build a pan-European culture of health, where health and well-being goals guide public and private decision-making, and everyone can make healthy choices". This vision was translated into the European Programme of Work 2020-2025 (EPW), which was formally adopted by the Region in September 2020.[5] The EPW outlines three core priorities: 1) Moving toward universal health coverage (UHC); 2) Protecting against health emergencies; and 3) Promoting health and well-being. These priorities are furthered through 4 flagship initiatives: 1) The Mental Health Coalition; 2) Empowerment Through Digital Health; 3) The European Immunization Agenda 2030; and 4) Healthier behaviours: incorporating behavioural and cultural insights. A major focus of the EPW is to enhance WHO/Europe's country focus by providing direct support to health leadership within the 53 countries of the WHO European Region.

The COVID-19 pandemic reached the WHO European Region prior to Dr Kluge officially taking up his post as Regional Director. He made his first official statement about the pandemic on 25 January 2020. Following that first statement, Dr Kluge held regular press briefings and made numerous statements related to the COVID-19 pandemic situation in the WHO European Region and WHO/Europe’s pandemic response. For the first time ever, WHO/Europe also held press briefings exclusively in Russian. At the 70th session of the WHO Regional Committee in September 2020, Dr Kluge reported on region-wide efforts during the pandemic. On that occasion, he said, "The WHO European Region, at critical times in its history, has undergone large-scale transformations of society to build back better as an example for the rest of the world. And those successful transformations were based on 4 ingredients. Two we have already: necessity and innovation. What we need together now is courage and collaboration". Dr Kluge also initiated the Pan-European Commission on Health and Sustainable Development, an independent and interdisciplinary group of leaders convened to rethink policy priorities in the light of pandemics.[6] The Commission chaired by Professor Mario Monti, aims to identify lessons learned based on how different countries’ health systems responded to the COVID-19 pandemic and make recommendations on investments and reforms to improve the resilience of health and social care systems in the WHO European Region. The Commission members come from a range of disciplines and from across geographic areas within the WHO European Region. The Commission's first meeting took place in August 2020.