Agnès Soucat

Dr. Agnès Soucat has been appointed Head of the Health and Social Protection Division of Agence Française de Développement on June 28, 2021. Her mission is to coordinate AFD's action in favor of access to quality healthcare and social protection for all, the reduction of maternal and infant mortality, and resilience in the face of climate disruption.

Agnès Soucat holds a PhD in Economics and a Master's degree in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University in the United States, as well as a PhD in Medicine and a Master's degree in Nutrition from the University of Nancy in France. She has over 25 years' experience in health and poverty reduction, in Africa, Asia and Europe.

Before joining AFD, Agnès Soucat was Director of Health Systems, Governance and Financing at the World Health Organization, where she developed WHO's activities in health economics, Universal Health Coverage financing and health systems governance. Agnès Soucat also held the position of Senior Economist and Governance Leader at the World Bank, where she was one of the authors of the 2004 World Development Report: Services for the Poor. As Director of the Human Capital Department at the African Development Bank, she was the main architect of the Human Capital Development Strategy, and of the joint response to the Ebola crisis and the Arab Spring.

• "Health and climate need to be considered together, says AFD"  in Euractiv (2023)
• Interview for PMNCH "Making children's health a priority" (2023)
• "One health would be to think about the 20 countries responsible for 70% of emissions" in Hospimedia (2023)
• Co-author of the Collective Minds Climate Council report: "Time to adapt: Accelerating climate adaptation for health equity" (2022)
• "Global health: AFD calls for a move away from humanitarian logic to invest in common goods" in Euractiv (2022)
• "Covid-19: It's a mistake to oppose the global distribution of vaccines and the recommendations for a booster dose" in Le Monde (2021)
• "A more inclusive healthcare system with universal health coverage" in Les Tribunes de la Santé (2020)
• Co-author of a Lancet report: "Global Health 2035: a world converging within generation" (2013)
• "AId and Health : what infectious diseases transmit" in Revue d'économie du développement (2005)
• Co-author of the World Bank's World Development Report : Services for the poor (2004)