Summary
Overview
Work history
Education
Skills
Country experience
Languages
Certification
Publications
Public Speaking & Teaching
Timeline
Generic

Emilie Sabine KOUM BESSON

Benin / United Kingdom

Summary

Experienced and purpose-driven global public health professional with a strong track record in development finance, health financing strategy design and reforms, health economics, and sustainable financial planning strategy across Africa. A strategic and forward-thinking leader who thrives on complex challenges and bold ideas, with a proven ability to inspire, influence, and drive change through compelling communication, direct leadership, and cross-cultural collaboration.

Demonstrated expertise in engaging with multilateral development banks, development finance institutions, and private capital providers to design, implement, and manage innovative financing models that mobilise domestic resources and strengthen health systems. Trusted advisor to African governments with proven success in partnering with stakeholders to co-create and deliver high-impact primary health care initiatives that are locally owned and culturally attuned. Recognised for building consensus across disciplines and institutions, fostering community cohesion, and driving reforms that align with both national priorities and global public health goals. Committed to advancing health equity through capability building and sustainable financing strategies that support effective donor transitions while safeguarding the long-term impact of publicly and privately funded programs.

Overview

13
13
years of professional experience
1
1
year of post-secondary education
1
1
Certification

Work history

Senior Advisor - Aid Effectiveness for Health

Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene of Guinea
Hybrid
02.2025 - Actuel
  • Developing national strategy and roadmap for the alignment and effectiveness of aid in the health sector.
  • Leading a technical group to identify best practices and bottlenecks to greater coordination between sectorial ministries (e.g.Ministry of health and Education), other key government ministries (inc. Ministry of Economy and Finance, Ministry of Budget, Ministry of Planning and Cooperation, Ministry of Decentralisation, Ministry of Public Servant, National Agency for the Financing of Local Authorities, etc;) and donors (e.g. MDB, NDB such as French development bank, EU, Global Fund, IsDB, etc.) for greater alignement.
  • Developing training workshops on health financing and sustainability planning building on international best practices and national context.

Specialist - Health Finance – Francophone Africa

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
Geneva, Switzerland
08.2022 - 10.2024
  • Served as the lead technical advisor on strategic public health and domestic financing efforts across 8 West and Central African countries (portfolio > $800M), providing support in grant development, co-financing, and sustainability of health interventions.
  • Managed health systems strengthening projects, including governance, budgeting for community health, PHC workforce development, pharmaceutical systems strengthening, market shaping for domestic purchasing sustainability, domestic procurement financing strenghtening and public financial management assessments.
  • Designed blended finance models to support long-term funding of national maternal and child health programs (LLF , IsDB and EIB).
  • Built and sustained high-level partnerships with governments, global donors (GAVI, GFF), development banks(IMF), and civil society to align financial and programmatic goals.
  • Advised African ministries of health and finance on domestic resource mobilisation strategies and PFM reform
  • Wrote country macroeconomic analysis briefs to inform donor transition strategies national budget negotiations.
  • Led advocacy that secured increased domestic health budget allocations and execution.
  • Collaborated with DFIs and health investment funds to structure innovative financing vehicles aligned with donor and government priorities.
  • Delivered training workshops for in-country program teams on health financing and sustainability planning.

Reseach Fellow - Public Health Evaluation

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
London, United Kingdom
07.2021 - 07.2022
  • Study design and technical training: Designed evaluation protocols and costing tools, conducted remote training of data collectors in Guinea and Mali on economic evaluation methodology.
  • Method development: Examined the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of extending Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (additional age group or additional monthly administration round) in Guinea, Mali, Niger, and The Gambia by analysing cost and epidemiological data.

Research Fellow - Data Review - Yemen & DRC

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
London, United Kingdom
10.2018 - 07.2022
  • Engaged remotely and in country with senior managers at Ministry of Health, WHO, WFP, FAO, UNICEF, OCHA, USAID, SIDA, FCDO, and health information managers at key NGOs (e.g. MSF, ACF) to collect mortality and public health data and build consensus on the need to increase timely access to data in crisis settings.
  • Designed of novel satellite imagery analysis methodology as a tool for epidemic surveillance and led peer-reviewed publications.
  • Wrote press releases with the media team and was interviewed by journalists for publication in The Guardian, AFP, etc. about the project.
  • Project management: Responsibilities included supervising junior research assistants, managing multilingual consultants and informants, designing, and maintaining Excel database, extracting data to populate database, triangulating and verifying data collected with partners and tracking data analysis progress to ensure timely completion of all milestones, within budget and mutual understanding between research team, donor and 7 technical partners.
  • Teaching: Designed and hosted lectures (100+ attendees) and seminars (20-30 students) and corrected exams in Conflict & Health, Extended Epidemiology, Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases, and Introduction to Health Economics modules.

Pharmaceutical Research Consultant

The World Bank
Remote
03.2020 - 03.2022
  • Conducted a mapping of procurement commitments of COVID-19 related health products in DR Congo. Facilitated the use of evidence for donor's coordination and prioritization of investments at country level.
  • Synthetized the available literature to support evidence-based practice for the development of a Quality Management System training program for private wholesalers of medicines with the national medicines regulatory authorities in DR Congo for sustainable procurement of quality assured medicines in the country.
  • Reviewed, edited, and advised on national medicine policy documents, briefs, and countries loans applications.
  • Wrote blogs and academic publications on global health supply chains, processes and practices to build resilient pharmaceutical systems.

Senior Associate Health Systems Hospital Planning

Clinton Health Access Initiative
Monrovia, Liberia & Kigali, Rwanda
01.2019 - 09.2019
  • Embedded technical assistant to the director of new Redemption hospital focused on maternal and child health in Monrovia, Liberia. Responsible for the coordination and leadership of multidisciplinary partners involved in hospital design and planning including doctors, nurses, NGOs, architects, and medical equipment consultants for successful project delivery.
  • Monitoring & Evaluation: Engaged with deans of faculty of medicine, nursing, and dentistry to carry out an evaluation of 7 years Rwanda Human Resources for Health program funded by PEPFAR ($58 million) to ease Ministry of Health decision-making.
  • Focus technical areas: Designed an Excel based analytical model for decision making with the Rwanda Ministry of Health leadership, especially the Head of the Human Resources for Health secretariat and his team to estimate and project health faculty needs (including nurses and midwives) and national health workforce targets (including PHC) and compare the cost-effectiveness of different health professional education models (in-country public or private sector versus abroad).

Country Representative

Centrale Humanitaire Médico-Pharmaceutique
Goma, Bukavu, Kinshasa, DRC & Nairobi, Kenya
04.2013 - 02.2016
  • Established the national office of a prequalified pharmaceutical wholesaler specialized in humanitarian medical logistics, managed door-to-door supply chain, supervised more than 10 team members in two countries, and developed and implemented administrative, financial, and human resources management manuals.
  • Oversaw internal transport services and handling including customs and clearance of medicines and medical supplies in conflict-affected area and built team knowledge on procurement, regulatory systems, market shaping strategies and public-private partnerships to replicate successes.
  • Designed a best practices manual of procurement and warehousing of health products adapted to local context based on international guidelines.
  • Conducted market dynamics analysis of essential medicines supply chains including Family Planning commodities unmet needs and bottlenecks.
  • Developed and maintained senior level relationships with government at central and decentralized level, central medicine stores directors, and private sector partners to co-develop strategies for sustainable and cost-effective procurement processes.

Finance, HR and Administration Officer

Première Urgence Internationale
Asnière, France & South Kivu, North Kivu, DRC
04.2012 - 03.2013
  • Project management and donor reporting: Managed budgeting and planning of grants (nutrition, SRH, MNCH, CCCM, livelihoods, food security, health service delivery, conflict emergencies, etc.) and contracts with technical teams and countries; Monitored programmatic and financial performance of activities in Afghanistan, Myanmar, North Korea, Pakistan, and Thailand; Led donors' audits for a $7 million portfolio of humanitarian projects according to donor guidelines in fast-paced environment
  • Human resources management: Oversaw a team of 152 staff based in different offices in Eastern Congo (North and South Kivu) and managed professional development and training plan including staff induction, evaluations and team building activities to drive productivity and healthy work environment. Designed, costed, and negotiated a layoff plan with staff and national unions in accordance with Congolese labour laws

Associate - Sustainable Immunization Financing

Sabin Vaccine Institute
Washington DC, U.S.A
06.2011 - 10.2011
  • Desk review: Supported and monitored 15 pilot countries in Sub-Saharan Africa & Asia on a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funded project on sustainable immunization financing (SIF). Conducted literature review on domestic financing mechanisms and public policy related to immunization.
  • Evidence synthesis: Coordinated a “Best practices” campaign on sustainable domestic financing mechanisms for vaccines with country examples and lessons learned to promote South-South knowledge and inform evidence-based decisions making.

Education

MSc Public Health - Concentration in Health Economics

LONDON SCHOOL OF HYGIENE & TROPICAL MEDICINE
London, United Kingdom
01.2017 - /2018

MSc International Sustainable Business Development - Concentration in Development Finance

ECOLE SUPERIEURE DE COMMERCE & DEVELOPPEMENT 3A
Lyon, France
09.2011 - 10.2012

Skills

  • Sustainable Health Financing
  • Domestic Resource Mobilisation & PFM
  • Development Finance including Islamic Finance
  • Pharmaceutical Systems & Market Shaping for Health
  • Stakeholder Engagement & Policy Dialogue
  • Program Design & Financial Integration
  • Capacity Building & Technical Coaching
  • Cost-Effectiveness Analysis
  • Intercultural Adaptation & Self-Learning

Country experience

In country: Benin, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Mauritania, Niger, Rwanda, United Kingdom. 

Research focus: Democratic Republic of Congo, The Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Yemen.

Remote support only: Afghanistan, Burundi, Central African Republic, North Korea, Myanmar, Pakistan, Thailand.

Languages

Français
Native
Anglais
Fluent
Espagnol
Intermediate
Swahili
Beginner

Certification

  • Public Financial Management - Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)
  • Islamic Finance for Sustainable Development Goals - Islamic Development Bank Institute

Publications

Published academic articles:

  • R Hurley,..ES Koum Besson...: Towards multilingualism in global health, Globalization and Health, 2025
  • Adjoa Sam-Agudu N and Koum Besson ES: For African Countries, the End of PEPFAR Shouldn't Be Unthinkable; It is Inevitable, Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society, 2024
  • F Checchi, ES Koum Besson, O Ali, M Alhaffar, N Saeed…: Population mortality before and during armed conflict in Yemen: geospatial and statistical analysis of cemetery data, medRxiv, 2023
  • R McCabe, C Whittaker,...ES Koum Besson...:Alternative epidemic indicators for COVID-19 in three settings with incomplete death registration systems, Science advances, 2023
  • F Checchi, A Testa, A Gimma, E KoumBesson…: A method for small-area estimation of population mortality in settings affected by crises, Population Health Metrics, 2022
  • F Checchi, ES Koum Besson: Reconstructing subdistrict-level population denominators in Yemen after six years of armed conflict and forced displacement, Journal of migration and health, 2022
  • Koum Besson ES: How to identify epistemic injustice in global health research funding practices: a decolonial guide, BMJ Global Health, 2022
  • Koum Besson ES, Norris A, Bin Ghouth AS, et al: Excess mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic: a geospatial and statistical analysis in Aden governorate, Yemen, UK Research for Development & BMJ Global Health, 2021
  • Koum Besson ES: Confronting « Whiteness » and Decolonising Global Health Institutions, The Lancet. Commissioned paper, 2021
  • Hommes F, Monzó HB, Ferrand R, Harris M, Hirsch LA, Koum Besson ES et al: The words we choose matter – recognising the importance of language to decolonising global health, The Lancet Global Health, 2021


Book chapter:

  • ES Koum Besson, M Pai: Rethinking Knowledge in Global Health, Global Health Essentials, 2023 - (Ed. Mario C. Raviglione, Fabrizio Tediosi, Beat Stoll, Simone Villa, Nuria Casamitjana and Antoni Plaséncia), Springer. (Forewords by Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, acting director of the World Health Organization).


Blog post: 

  • Amber Clarke, Emilie Koum Besson, Zainab Ismail, Sara Pensa, and Meskerem Aleka Kebede: What do colonialism, racism and global health education have in common? We wrote a toolkit about it, PLOS Blog, PLOS Global Public Health, 2022
  • Koum Besson ES: COVID-19 (coronavirus): Panic buying and its impact on global health supply chains, World Bank Blog, 2020


Manual, contributions and al.:

  • ES Koum Besson, A Clarke, MA Kebede, Z Ismail… : Introduction to decoloniality and anti-racism in global health: Student Toolkit, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, 2022
  • Madhukar Pai, Decolonizing Global Health: A Moment To Reflect On A Movement, Forbes, 2022
  • Madhukar Pai, Double Agents in Global Health, Forbes, 2022
  • Koum Besson ES, Adamon K, Kasonde L, Biaya F, Mesongolo A: Building emergency resilient pharmaceutical systems in DRC. 2022


Public Speaking & Teaching

Timeline

Senior Advisor - Aid Effectiveness for Health

Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene of Guinea
02.2025 - Actuel

Specialist - Health Finance – Francophone Africa

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
08.2022 - 10.2024

Reseach Fellow - Public Health Evaluation

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
07.2021 - 07.2022

Pharmaceutical Research Consultant

The World Bank
03.2020 - 03.2022

Senior Associate Health Systems Hospital Planning

Clinton Health Access Initiative
01.2019 - 09.2019

Research Fellow - Data Review - Yemen & DRC

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
10.2018 - 07.2022

MSc Public Health - Concentration in Health Economics

LONDON SCHOOL OF HYGIENE & TROPICAL MEDICINE
01.2017 - /2018

Country Representative

Centrale Humanitaire Médico-Pharmaceutique
04.2013 - 02.2016

Finance, HR and Administration Officer

Première Urgence Internationale
04.2012 - 03.2013

MSc International Sustainable Business Development - Concentration in Development Finance

ECOLE SUPERIEURE DE COMMERCE & DEVELOPPEMENT 3A
09.2011 - 10.2012

Associate - Sustainable Immunization Financing

Sabin Vaccine Institute
06.2011 - 10.2011

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Emilie Sabine KOUM BESSON