Elhadji Babacar Gueye: Chief of Party

“When I started my career in 1992, I worked as the head of the district in Velingara—a rural district in Senegal without resources,” says Elhadji Babacar Gueye, IntraHealth Senegal’s chief of party and director of technical services. “I discovered during those seven years that many women and children died each year from preventable diseases—like malaria, measles, or just from lack of adequate service delivery.

“I think this is unacceptable—that’s the main reason I decided to work in the public health field: to assist my community in preventing mortality among women and children under five.”

With IntraHealth since January, 2006, Babacar is a medical doctor, public health specialist and an epidemiologist with 19 years of experience.

In his current role as deputy chief of party, Babacar assists with office management, public relations activities, and communication efforts with stakeholders and in-country donors. In his technical leadership role, he oversees technical advisors and field coordinators who work throughout ten regions in Senegal.

“We’ve provided intensive training to health workers and helped equip the lab with state-of-the-art microscopes. Having seen a drastic decrease in malaria-related mortality increases my commitment to support our national health system to better serve our vulnerable communities,” Babacar explains. “Whenever we make even minor progress, I feel good and proud to have somehow contributed to saving women’s and children’s lives.”

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