Following the denial of funds from the enraged Trump Administration amid coronavirus, the WHO Foundation that was created in May to oversee flow of grants since WHO cannot raise funds on its own, has appointed Anil Soni as its first Chief Executive Officer.
The WHO Foundation, an independent grant-making agency headquartered in Geneva, was launched in May 2020 to work alongside the World Health Organization (WHO) to address the world's pandemics and infectious diseses. Soni, who served as Head of Global Infectious Diseases at Viatris, a global healthcare company, will take over the new role effective from Jan. 1, 2021.
Prof. Thomas Zeltner, Founder and Chairman of the Board of the WHO Foundation, said,
"Anil is a dynamic leader with deep experience across all aspects of global public health.
From his work at Viatris where he has led the development and introduction of medicines to
treat HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, to his leadership of the Clinton Health Access Initiative, and
his time at the Global Fund, he has demonstrated his ability to work across public, private,
and nonprofit sectors and build successful new organizations from the ground up."
In his previous role at Viatris, a health initiative for AIDS, Soni has been credited with shortening the amount of time needed to make low-cost medicines available in high-burden settings. In addition to advisory roles with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the MDG Health Alliance, he will be expected to oversee the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for WHO, which WHO and the UN Foundation launched earlier in 2020, together with the Swiss Philanthropy Foundation, that raised $238 million in corporate and individual pledges for WHO's COVID-19 response efforts.
Endorsing the decision, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said, "He (Soni) earned my trust when he and his team at the Clinton Health Access Initiative worked side by side with the Ministry of Health in Ethiopia to expand access to treatment and strengthen the management of our health centers."
Over the next three years, the WHO Foundation aims to raise $1 billion to directly impact the health of people around the world. That will change the face of what the WHO can do for the world.
