National Department Of Health Director General
National Department Of Health Director General
Ms Malebona Precious Matsoso is the Director General of the National Department of Health (As at the time this article was written), having been appointed by the President of South Africa on 08 June 2010 to head the national office under the leadership of the Minister of Health Dr Aaron Motsoaledi and Deputy Minister of Health Dr Gwen Ramokgopa.
This puts her in charge of the South African Department of Health, managing health issues for the entire country and reporting to and advising the Health Ministry.Ms Matsoso holds a degree in Pharmacy from the University of Western Cape, a Postgraduate Diploma in Health Management from the University of Cape Town, and a Masters degree in Law and Ethics (LLM) from the University of Dundee. As a pharmacist she has worked in both the public and private sector at management level.
The Director-General was a Director in Public Health Innovation and Intellectual Property (PHI) in the office of the Director General, of the World Health Organisation (WHO) serving as WHO Secretariat on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property.Her career within the field of medicine control have included posts as Head of Medicines Control Council (MCC), member of the National Research Ethics Council of South Africa, and the Director of the Essential Drugs and Traditional Medicines Programme for the South African Health Department as well as being a member of various advisory panels with an emphasis on improving access to medicines and antiretrovirals.
Prior to this she was the Registrar of Medicines of the National Drug Regulatory Authority in South Africa and has produced over 40 technical guidelines for the Authority, and served in various bodies including the Medicines Control Council (MCC) which she headed for seven years responsible for overseeing 10 technical committees.She has been a member of various advisory panels locally and internationally, mainly tasked with improving access to medicines. She also served as Secretariat of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) harmonization initiative and has coordinated related activities for the region for effective regulation of medicines in the region.