Abdelhadi Eltahir

Independent Consultant and Expert of Health Issues

Dr. Abdelhadi Eltahir is an Independent Consultant and expert for health, reproductive health, and women’s rights with over 23 years of experience in various settings. These include humanitarian where there were mass displacements of internally displaced people and refugees across their home country’s borders. Dr. Eltahir began his public health career at Columbia University in New York as an Assistant Clinical Professor where he was teaching reproductive Health and the prevention of maternal mortality. Prior to that, he graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Khartoum and practiced as a physician in remote rural areas in Darfur, Sudan. There he performed among others; many life-saving surgical, obstetrics, and gynecology procedures. During his time as a clinician in Darfur, he managed to minimize maternal and child mortality and control infectious disease outbreaks in the region. Dr. Eltahir advocated against female genital mutilation towards total abandonment by spearheading USAID projects in several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. He has experience as a Senior Technical Advisor for USAID Headquarters in Washington DC and several international non-government organizations including representing the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and others as an emergency reproductive health coordinator in Ethiopia, Jordan, and Syria for several years. In this capacity, Dr. Eltahir addressed the reproductive health needs in conflict and post-conflict settings as well as strengthened the capacity of the UNFPA Emergency Response team. Dr. Eltahir was part of the Columbia University multidisciplinary team for the Prevention of Maternal Mortality (PMM) Program effectively implemented in Ghana, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone.