Emilie Koum Besson is a Pharmaceutical Research Consultant in the World Bank’s Health, Nutrition, and Population Global Practice. Her work applies economic thinking and tools to analyse the impact of pharmaceutical policies on efforts to reach universal health coverage in low- and middle-income countries.
Prior to joining the World Bank, Emilie led the work of a humanitarian procurement center in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The center’s pharmaceutical system strengthening activities aimed to improve access to affordable and quality assured medicines to conflict affected communities in Eastern DRC.
Later, after completing a master’s degree at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in Public Health (MSc) majoring in Health Economics, Emilie worked at the Clinton Health Access Initiative on human resources for health programs in Liberia and Rwanda. The programs were focused on building health education infrastructure and the workforce necessary for sustainable and high-quality healthcare systems.
As a native French speaker, Emilie is interested in sharing lessons learned from both Francophone and Anglophone Africa to support the design of healthy and sustainable pharmaceutical markets that will enable better health and development outcomes. She is also conducting research on health in humanitarian crisis settings.