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Vice President of Human Development, World Bank

Joy Phumaphi is Vice President of Human Development at the World Bank. She is a former World Health Organization (WHO) Assistant Director General for family and community health, and was health minister in her home country of Botswana from 1999–2003.

Joy, a Botswana national, began public service in Botswana as a local government auditor. From 1994 to 2003, she went on to serve in Parliament and as a representative to the Southern African Development Community.  She entered the Cabinet with responsibility for lands and housing and developed the first national housing policy.  Joy subsequently served as Minister for Health where she restructured the ministry to make it more focused on results while overseeing revision of the Public Health Act and putting into action a multi-sectoral plan to combat HIV/AIDS.

In 2003, Joy joined the World Health Organization as the Assistant Director General for Family and Community Health Department, managing a staff of over 1100 globally.  She is in the Board of GAVI.  She has served as a member of the UN Reference Group on Economics and a UN Commissioner on HIV/AIDS and Governance.  She is a member of the UNDP advisory board for Africa and a distinguished African American Institute Fellow.