Dr François L. Gasse France

Dr François L. Gasse is a French physician and international expert whose career of more than four decades has been defined by large-scale programme leadership, global policy design and multilateral institutional management in more than 90 countries. He has devoted his professional life to turning strategic frameworks into measurable results, a discipline forged over seventeen years at the World Health Organization and a further decade at UNICEF, where he held global coordination and policy roles.

As Global Coordinator of the WHO/UNICEF Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus Elimination Initiative, Dr Gasse designed and led the delivery of a global strategy that enabled 83 of the 90 target countries to reach elimination status, cutting annual deaths from 800,000 in 1988 to fewer than 7,000 in 2025, one of the most compelling examples of multilateral programme coordination in recent decades. He is also co-author of the Global Immunization Vision and Strategy (GIVS), the global reference framework setting vaccination priorities for WHO and UNICEF member states.

A graduate of Aix-Marseille University with a Master's in international public health from Johns Hopkins University, Dr Gasse began his international career in the field in Zambia with the French Cooperation. Since 2010, he has worked as an independent international consultant based in Ibiza, Spain, continuing to provide strategic and technical support at international level.