Hans Kluge

WHO Regional Director for Europe

Dr Hans Kluge began his second term as WHO Regional Director for Europe in February 2025, following his unanimous renomination by the WHO Regional Committee for Europe. Hans Kluge has been active in public health for more than 30 years. He started his career as a family doctor in Belgium and served for Médecins Sans Frontières in Liberia and Somalia. He worked on large-scale tuberculosis programmes in prison systems in Siberia and several countries of the former Soviet Union. At the WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia, he was responsible for tuberculosis, AIDS and malaria programmes in North Korea and Myanmar. In 2009, he moved to the WHO Regional Office for Europe. As Director of the Division of Health Systems and Public Health he was engaged in large scale transformations of health systems; studies on universal health coverage and financial protection; prioritized a focus on service delivery including integrated and primary health care; and built strong partnerships on health system performance and reforms with global and European health organisations and civil society. Hans Kluge served as WHO Regional Director for Europe from 2020 to 2025, leading the Region through unprecedented public health crises, including COVID-19, mpox, war- and conflict-related emergencies and extreme weather events. He initiated the Pan-European (“Monti”) Commission on Health and Sustainable Development, which focused on learning from the COVID-19 pandemic to promote investments and reforms enhancing the resilience of health and social care systems. This led to the establishment of the WHO European Well-being Economy Initiative.