Dr Sume Gerald Etapelong

WHO EMRO Representative

Sume Gerald is a Medical Doctor with a Master in Public Health and a Master of Sciences in Field Epidemiology

He presently is technical officer strategic planning in the Immunization, Vaccine-Preventable Diseases and Polio Transition (IVP) unit, Department of Communicable Diseases (DCD) at World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO). He also serves as the Regional NITAG Focal person.

Before joining IVP Team in WHO/EMRO, Dr Sume led the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) Surveillance Team at the national level in WHO Nigeria where he played a critical role in developing a quality polio surveillance system that led to a Wild Poliovirus (WPV) free Nigeria in June 2020, and consequently, WPV Eradication from WHO Africa Region in August 2020. Prior to this achievement, he was EPI team lead in WHO Cameroon. He has a rich and diverse background with over 15 years’ experience in immunization and several scientific publications in the field of public health.