Eva Ombaka PhD

Born in Moshi, Tanzania, Dr Eva Ombaka trained as a pharmacist in England where she also obtained her PhD (pharmacy) and her Masters in Public Health, and has had a chance to experience the profession from hospital practice, academia, and manufacturing.

For seventeen years she was involved in issues of pharmaceutical policy development and capacity building for better pharmacy practice. Her main areas of interest are in access to and the promotion of rational use of medicines (RUM). She has been involved in several RUM and drugs and therapeutic committee (DTC) courses and was the winner of Olle Hansson award for 2007 for her work in RUM. She has participated in committees addressing different aspects of access and use of medicines in organizations such as WHO, MSH, React and HAI.

In her former capacity as coordinator of Ecumenical Pharmaceutical Network and as founder and board member of Sustainable Health Care Foundation, Dr Ombaka actively supported use of available local resources, including personnel, as an effective way of learning, sharing best practices and addressing issues with understanding of local context.