Ms Malebona Precious Matsoso

Ms Malebona Precious Matsoso, a national of the Republic of South Africa, has over 25 years’ experience at executive management level in the field of health management, ethics and research. She has been responsible for health-care policy and programmes at both national and international level, and has led the development and implementation of technical guidelines, policies and regulatory tools, national legislation and compliance systems. She held the post of Director-General of the South African National Department of Health for nine and a half years, starting in 2010. Under her tenure, the largest programme to counter HIV infection in the world was put in place, with 4.7 million people on treatment; she oversaw the roll-out of the electronic Health Patient Registration System, which has currently over 44 million patients registered. She was responsible for the development of e-Health, M-Health and Digital Health Strategies for South Africa, and was instrumental in the reform of District Health Information Systems and Governance. She chaired the Ministerial Advisory Committee on e-Health, as well as the Policy Review Committee of the South African National Aids Council.

At the international level, Ms Matsoso held the post of World Health Organization (WHO) Director responsible for the development and implementation of the global strategy and plan of action on public health innovation and intellectual property. Prior to that, she served as WHO Director, Department of Technical Cooperation for Essential Drugs and Traditional Medicine. She has been appointed to various advisory bodies both nationally and internationally. She served as a member of the WHO Executive Board for a three year term, acting both as Vice-Chairperson and as Chair. The United Nations Secretary-General appointed Ms Matsoso as a member of his High-Level Panel on Access to Health Technologies, a body comprised of eminent leaders from the public and commercial worlds. She served as the Chairperson of the Independent Oversight and Advisory Committee for the WHO Health Emergencies Programme. She was a member of the Lancet Global Health Commission on High Quality Health Systems, and is at present serving on the Board of Unitaid. She has recently also taken up an appointment as a member of the Board of Trustees of Vital Strategies.

Ms Matsoso is currently the Director of the Health Regulatory Science Platform, a division of the Wits Health Consortium at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Her qualifications include a degree in pharmacy from the University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa, and a postgraduate diploma with honours in health management from the University of Cape Town. She completed an LL.M in Public Health, Law and Ethics at the University of Dundee, Scotland, and is currently undertaking doctorate studies at the University of Witwatersrand.