Dr Gilles Poumerol is an international public health specialist. He worked with the World Health Organization (WHO) for 30 years in various capacities at country, regional, and global level. He has extensive experience in the Caribbean, in Asia, in the Pacific, and in Africa on the epidemiology and control of HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections and tuberculosis. In the past 10 years he was in charge of International Travel and Health (ITH) and the revised International Health Regulations (IHR). He is presently Public Health consultant. Dr Poumerol received his MD from the University of Paris in 1981, his Masters of Science in community health in developing countries from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 1987, and diplomas in tropical medicine and epidemiology from the University of Paris.