As of 1 May 2020, the current director of KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation, Kitty van Weezenbeek, will be appointed Director Surveillance, Prevention and Control of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva. An appointment that the Netherlands can be proud of, and so is KNCV. Van Weezenbeek brings many years of (inter-)national experience in the field of drug resistance with a PhD in drug-resistant TB in 1998; technical assistance to over 25 countries worldwide; and participation and chair positions in numerous global expert and guideline committees.
In the past decade, KNCV, led by Van Weezenbeek, has been fighting the threat that AMR poses to global public health. A quarter of AMR deaths are caused by a drug resistant form of TB. The expertise and experience developed by KNCV in the field of research, surveillance, prevention and treatment of drug-resistant TB, can be used to inform the programmatic response to the broader AMR threat. Van Weezenbeek: “KNCV has an impressive track record in addressing all aspects of drug resistant tuberculosis and I am convinced that the AMR response will benefit from our experiences, as TB control will benefit from an effective global response to AMR.
Mirella Visser, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of KNCV Tuberculosis Fund: “We will miss Kitty’s perseverance and extensive experience, but we are proud that she will be in a position to contribute to prevention and control of the public health threat AMR poses to us all.”
