New WHO Designated Technical Officer for IAPO

New Year is a great time for change and growth. Nittita Prasopa-Plaizier, our designated technical officer (DTO) for the WHO-IAPO official relationship, will move on to bigger and better things in 2017. 

Many of you met Nittita at our Global Patient Congress in April 2016. Nittita was the Programme Manager for Patient Safety & Quality Improvement in the WHO Service Delivery and Safety Department and was critical in raising awareness and support for patient safety globally. 

Nittita was a great source of information and guidance for IAPO and her expertise was greatly appreciated by many of our patient groups globally. Her dedication and concern for vulnerable patient groups were greatly admired, and her pioneering work in compassionate care added a lot of value to our programmes.

Nittita’s commitment to quality in healthcare was reflected through her promotion of the WHO Universal Health Coverage and Quality Unit http://bit.ly/2hLHCJB and her overarching commitment to improving access to health care globally was demonstrated by her engagement with the development, and later promotion, of the WHO Framework on integrated people-centred health care services. http://bit.ly/1xFqNWt

Nittita now moves onto a very important role of Technical Officer for Education and Capacity Development at the WHO WPRO Region and will be a regional focal point for WHO Country Cooperation Strategies (WHO CCs), engaging with some 191 CCs.  She will retain her work on patient safety and healthcare quality with the added responsibilities for education and training and managing capacity strengthening programmes. Good luck Nittita.

Her replacement is another dedicated person we all know very well through the various high-profile consultation meetings and events hosted by her in Geneva and elsewhere in 2016. Dr. Neelam Dhingra-Kumar comes with a great history in patient engagement and dedication to improving access, quality, and safety of healthcare and medicines. We welcome our new DTO and old friend and hope to have a great 2017.