Dr Rana gets additional charge to manage GF

Islamabad: Dr Rana Safdar, Chief of Field Epidemiology and Disease Surveillance Division of the National Institute of Health (NIH), has been assigned additional charge of the post of National Coordinator, Common Management Unit for The Global Fund (GF).

Following the notification, Dr. Rana will assume leadership of the three priority programmes related to HIV/AIDs, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. The rising incidence of TB, the upsurge of the drug-resistant strain of TB, the recent HIV outbreak in Sindh, as well as the governance challenges of The Global Fund prompted the government to benefit from Dr. Rana’s expertise and experience.

Dr. Rana is a medical doctor and field epidemiologist who specialised in Public Health from the Armed Forces Medical Institute. He also holds fellowships in Emerging Infectious Disease Epidemiology (University of Iowa, US) and Health Metrics and Evaluation (University of Washington).

Dr. Rana has previously worked in priority programmes of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI), HIV, hepatitis, and polio eradication. He also served international organizations such as UNAIDS and US-CDC FELTP after competitive selection. At NIH, he is the senior-most chief heading the Disease Surveillance Division.