Dr Yvan J-F. Hutin. Director of the Department of Universal Health Coverage, Communicable DiseasesDr Yvan J-F. Hutin is the Director of the Department of Universal Health Coverage, Communicable Diseases, at the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean.

Following his MD with a specialization in hepato-gastroenterology in Paris, France, and an MSc in clinical tropical medicine at the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, he joined the Epidemic Intelligence Service of the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, United States of America, and completed a PhD at the Swiss Tropical Institute, in Basel.

As part of his international public health experience, he worked in Burkina Faso, including work on dracunculiasis (guinea-worm disease), in Uganda, including work on African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness), and in Sweden at the European Centre for Disease Control.

During his WHO career, he initiated the Safe Injection Global Network (SIGN) at WHO headquarters, assisted India in the establishment of its Field Epidemiology Training Programme (FETP), was the international co-manager of the GAVI China project and coordinated strategic information at the Global Hepatitis Programme of WHO headquarters.

His areas of expertise include epidemiology, prevention, care and treatment of viral hepatitis, public health training, economic analyses and financing.

Dr Hutin has co-authored more than 120 articles in peer-reviewed journals.