Fouzia Shafique

Fouzia is the Associate Director for Health at UNICEF Headquarters and focuses on Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health; Primary Health Care (PHC)/ Health System Strengthening and Digital Health and Information Systems. She is also the global lead for UNICEF’s work on Community Health.

In her previous roles at the country level, Fouzia led UNICEF’s Health Programme in Afghanistan and UNICEF’s Health and Nutrition Programmes, dealing with the worst humanitarian crisis of recent times, preventing health system collapse and ensuring the continuation of primary health care services. 

At the global level, from 2019 to 2022, she led UNICEF’s work on Health in humanitarian settings and emergencies. In this role, she supported UNICEF’s work on advocating for children’s health and well-being in emergency, fragile, conflict, and vulnerable settings. She supported national governments in preparedness and response to the health needs of mothers and children in humanitarian and fragile settings and in ensuring that evidence-based guidance is available on new and emerging health issues.

An alum of the Agha Khan University, Karachi-Pakistan and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London-UK, Dr. Fouzia began her career in public health with the Ministry of Health in Pakistan, working with the Lady Health Workers Program, Pakistan’s community-based service delivery program. She has served in various roles in Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Yemen and supported several countries in Africa and Asia on Accelerated Disease Control Initiatives, especially for Vaccine Preventable Diseases including Maternal and Newborn Tetanus Elimination and Polio Eradication Initiative.