Dr Charlotte Faty Ndiaye is a public health specialist and associate professor of oral pathology and surgery. She worked for over twenty years at the World Health Organisation (WHO), having previously held various posts within the Senegalese Ministry of Health, particularly in the field of community health. Her career has taken her to several African countries, at national, regional and international levels, in contexts ranging from development programmes to health and humanitarian emergencies — notably as WHO Representative in Cameroon, Madagascar and Mauritania, as well as in coordinating roles within the United Nations system.

Alongside her work in public health, she continued to teach and conduct research at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, with her work and publications focusing in particular on HIV/AIDS, noma, gender issues and public health challenges in Africa. With a particular focus on women’s health, she served as president of the Society for Women and AIDS in Africa (SWAA), an organisation working with women living with HIV and communities affected by AIDS in several African countries — an experience that continues to inform her thinking on the links between health, women’s rights, access to care and development.