Sameh El-Saharty is the Program Leader for Human Development responsible for the World Bank’s advisory services in health, education, social protection and labor in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. Since he joined the World Bank in 1998, he has been responsible for leading the policy dialog and strategy development as well as preparing and managing programs and projects amounting to about $3 billion in more than 25 countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and the United States.
Prior to his current position, he was Senior Health Policy Specialist (2010-2016) in the South Asia region and the Middle East and North Africa Region (1999 – 2009) where he led the preparation and management of major health programs in Bangladesh, Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, India, Morocco, Tunisia and Yemen and led regional and country-level technical and analytical work. Between 2006 and 2009, he provided cross support to a regional project in East Africa.
His experience spans a wide range of health programs and systems including maternal and child health, communicable and non-communicable diseases, population and family planning, health service delivery, hospital management, human resources, health insurance, health reform, and human capital. His work also entailed cross cutting issues such as knowledge management, implementation research, and science of delivery. He authored and contributed to more than 30 published books, papers, articles, studies, reviews, and technical reports on these subjects.
Prior to joining the World Bank, he had worked for several organizations including the United States Agency for International Development, Pathfinder International, Clark Atlanta University, the American University in Cairo, Vinci, Ministry of Health in Egypt, and Cairo University’s School of Medicine. He had also worked for part-time or provided short-term consultancies to several organizations including Harvard Chan School of Public Health, Harvard Kennedy School, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United Nations Fund for Population, Management Sciences for Health, and the World Health Organization. He also held the position of Adjunct Assistant Professor of International Health at Georgetown University in Washington, DC.
He is a Medical Doctor with a Master’s degree in International Health Policy and Management from Harvard University.