News and Opinions  –  2022

Anna Sjöblom new Director ReAct Europe

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2022-02-21

Anna Sjöblom is the new Director for ReAct Europe. She comes with long experience of working in low resource settings for Médicins Sans Frontières (MSF) and within the Swedish health care system. In addition to this she has been a Medical Humanitarian Advisor for MSF for almost 10 years and she was a member of the MSF Sweden management-team.

Anna Sjöblom is the new Director for ReAct Europe. Photo: Therese Holm, ReAct Europe.

Anna Sjöblom is the new Director for ReAct Europe. She comes with long experience of working in low resource settings for Médicins Sans Frontières (MSF) and within the Swedish health care system. In addition to this she has been a Medical Humanitarian Advisor for MSF for almost 10 years and she was a member of the MSF Sweden management-team. In the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, she also worked in Centre for Research on Health Care in Disasters where she (on behalf of the board of Health and Welfare) was part of a team that designed the first trainings on Covid-19.

Professor Otto Cars, founder of ReAct, says:

 – Anna will bring drive and strong engagement to our policy work, combined with deep understanding for those most in need. She is also a wise and experienced leader with 25 years of experience from MSF. I am very enthusiastic about our recruitment.

Otto Cars, Founder of ReAct, and Anna Sjöblom are looking forward to working together. Photo: Therese Holm, ReAct Europe.

Anna Sjöblom will be part of the ReAct Global Leadership Group with representatives from each of ReAct’s five nodes. Her main focus will be policy development and coordination of ReAct network. She says:

– I have admired ReAct’s work from a distance for several years and I am really looking forward to being responsible for the continuous work. ReAct is quite unique in the sense that we have nodes on five different continents and we work at grass-root level as well as at the highest political level. There is so much expertise in this network!

– During my time with MSF I have been in contact with antibiotic resistance in several low-income countries. What first comes to my mind, are the severely malnourished children I met – in nutrition centers in Niger and in other humanitarian crises where I worked. Bacterial infections affect the very vulnerable individuals the hardest and is a huge problem in places with under-resourced health systems.

Anna Sjöblom previously worked for MSF during many years. Experiences that will be valuable for ReAct. Photo: Therese Holm, ReAct Europe.

ReAct Europe welcomes Anna Sjöblom to her new position, looking forward to being led by a Director with her feet in health care, her heart in humanitarian work and a strong mind focused on advocacy – for a world free from untreatable infections. She is a trained and experienced nurse and humanitarian advisor and she holds a Master of Science in Global Health.

Anna Sjöblom concludes:

– Engaging in the policy work and to push for stronger action on antibiotic resistance, one of the biggest public health threat of our times, will be an important mission. I cannot imagine a more meaningful task, says Anna Sjöblom.


For more information and for press please contact:

Communications Manager: therese.holm@medsci.uu.se

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