Abdullah Al Sayafi

Technical Medical Officer

Abdullah Al Sayafi is a technical medical officer with the World Health Organization in Geneva, specialising in global epidemic and pandemic preparedness with a focus on MERS coronavirus and COVID-19. Laboratory capacity is the foundation of surveillance: an outbreak is only visible to the extent that laboratories can detect, confirm and report the causative agent quickly and consistently. His work covers the role of laboratories in national surveillance systems and the readiness required before the next outbreak rather than during it.