Alan Court: Pete - the Mentor, the Leader

The shock of Pete's loss is immense. Typically, he was working with some of the most "fragile" States to develop true access to Primary Health Care for the most vulnerable. He had just returned from Somalia.

His history of mentoring is immense. I recall meeting him for the first time in Afghanistan in the early 2000s and he was investing enormous time bringing UNICEF's national staff up to speed, particularly the newly recruited women health staff. Later, when he came to New York as UNICEF's Head of Health after having been seconded to PEPFAR he brought in much of the fine epidemiological skills he had honed over the years as well as his passion for getting sound evidence and using it.

An excellent colleague and one willing to challenge existing ways of doing things and proposing alternative, and almost always better ways. More recently his Ebola work during the West African outbreak 5 years ago put the other diseases from which children were dying firmly on the map as a consideration as part of the Ebola response. He applied his insights in WHO when he led the Emergency response team which he did until last year.


The world has lost a true leader who made a positive difference wherever he was, always leaving the people he served and those he served with better than before he arrived.


It is heartbreaking most of all for Annalies and their sons and our hearts go out to them.


Warm regards to all