Ms. Alana Officer began her career as a clinician in Australia and England before taking on technical and managerial roles in disability, health, and development work across West and Central Africa, Europe, South Asia, the Middle East, and the Western Pacific.
She joined the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2006 as the Coordinator for the Disability and Rehabilitation Team, leading the development of landmark resources such as the WHO Global Disability Action Plan 2014–2021, the International Perspectives on Spinal Cord Injury (2013), the World Report on Disability (2011), and the Guidelines on Community-based Rehabilitation (2010). In 2014, Ms. Officer joined the Department of Ageing and Life Course to lead the development of the World Report on Ageing and Health and the Global Strategy and Action Plan on Ageing and Health.
She also spearheaded WHO’s work on age-friendly environments, including the Global Network for Age-friendly Cities and Communities and the development of a Global Campaign to Combat Ageism. In 2020, Ms. Officer became head of the Demographic Change and Healthy Ageing unit, coordinating the Secretariat for the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing and overseeing WHO’s work on age-friendly physical and social environments.