Just 12 hours later, Dr Ahmed was speaking directly to WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in Geneva via Zoom. Dr Ahmed was one of only five individual WHO staff from around the world to receive the Director-General’s prestigious award.

“These are individuals who have gone beyond the call of duty, in the face of unprecedented challenges, to make exceptional contributions to WHO’s work in 2021,” Dr Tedros announced at the ceremony conducted on Zoom. “They demonstrate the values at the core of WHO’s work – commitment, integrity, collaboration, compassion, and excellence.”

“I dedicate this award to the soul of my father and to a great woman, my mother, and to my wonderful queen – my wife,” Dr Ahmed said to Dr Tedros. He then thanked his “amazing team” in the WHO Hodeidah Hub office, naming each person individually, and concluded by acknowledging the WHO Representative in Yemen, Dr Adham Rashad Ismail Abdel-Moneim, as “the inspiration for all of us.”

An award shared with family and team

Dr Ahmed, age 52, joined the Yemen Country Office in 2007 as a community medical specialist in Aden, where he was born and grew to adulthood. He transferred to the newly opened WHO Hub Office in Hodeidah in 2015, the same year that intense fighting reached this Red Sea port city, and has continued to plague it since.

“Because of the security situation, my family cannot join me here,” Dr Ahmed explained. “But the Quran says that when you save one life you are saving all humanity. I see how much the people we serve are in real need. There are big gaps in health services that need more support from our side. Yes, my family worries all the time about my safety. But they understand that I have chosen this path. They appreciate what I am doing, and they motivate me to do my best. So this is their award also.”

Dr Ahmed also credits his teammates for enabling his achievements as Hodeidah Hub manager.

Asked about the challenges of working in such a difficult location as Hodeidah, Dr Ahmed recalled one week in June 2018 when there were 200 airstrikes, and all staff were forced to live and work in the basement of the office – for three long months.

“Most UN staff left the city, but we stayed, because we wanted our operations to continue to reach the neediest people. Now it is almost 2022. We can’t stop our work; we can’t take much rest…My faith gives me strength to go forward.”

Leadership in harsh conditions

For Dr Adham, the WHO Representative in Yemen, Dr Ahmed’s leadership in Hodeidah is a major reason why WHO has been able to effectively plan and implement sustained responses to outbreaks of disease (including COVID-19, cholera, malaria, and diphtheria), severe acute malnutrition, and severely overstretched and understaffed health facilities (through provision of supplies, medicines, and infrastructure rehabilitation).

“We all appreciate Dr Ahmed and his team in Hodeidah,” said Dr Adham. “We are doing what we can to help them succeed. Hodeidah is a contested area and WHO is operating there in very harsh conditions, while walking a very fine line just to be able to do our work. For the Director-General to recognize this and honor Dr Ahmed with this award is very commendable, and it is appreciated greatly.”

Dr Adham also thanked Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari, the WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, for “his leadership and support of staff like Dr Ahmed who work in crisis areas.”

A boyhood dream is realized

Dr Ahmed traces his life’s journey to Hodeidah back to his boyhood in Aden – and his favorite children’s magazine.

“It featured adventure stories about a fictional WHO doctor named Dr Gamal,” he recalled. “Every week he was in a new country helping the most vulnerable people. He was like a hero to me, and my dream back then was to be like him. Years later, when I joined WHO, I remembered Dr Gamal again.”