New Deputy Health Minister has extensive experience working with international organisations

Samvel Kharazyan, who was appointed Deputy Health Minister of Armenia by a decision of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on August 29, has many years of experience working with international organisations.

From 2005 to 2022, he worked with the World Bank, the Health Project Implementation Unit, the World Health Organization, World Vision Armenia, Armenia’s National Institute of Health, USAID-funded programmes, the Youth Foundation of Armenia, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the Asian Development Bank and the United Nations Children’s Fund, holding positions including working group leader, national and international expert, health financing expert, team leader, health policy and financing adviser, lecturer and research team leader.

Kharazyan’s biography is as follows:

He was born on June 19, 1973, in Yerevan.

He graduated from Yerevan Secondary School No. 162.

From 1991 to 1996, he studied at the Faculty of Management of the Yerevan Institute of National Economy.

From 2011 to 2018, he defended his candidate dissertation at the Armenian State University of Economics on the topic “Improving the Financing of Armenia’s Healthcare System through Programme Budgeting” and was awarded the academic degree of Candidate of Economic Sciences.

From 1996 to 1998, he served in the Armed Forces of Armenia.

From June to October 1998, he worked as a contract expert at the Department of State Loans, Guarantees and Grants of the Armenian Ministry of Finance and Economy.

From 1998 to 2002, he worked as a chief specialist at the Control Department of the State Health Agency under the Armenian Government.

From 2000 to 2001, he worked as a national consultant at the World Bank’s Yerevan office on a review of Armenia’s health financing and healthcare service delivery system.

From 2002 to 2014, he served as Head of the Medical Services Purchasing and Information Department of the State Health Agency of the Armenian Ministry of Health.

From 2002 to 2003, he worked at Oxfam as a financing expert on a team developing and introducing community-based health insurance schemes.

From April to December 2005, he worked as a lecturer within IntraHealth, NOVA and USAID-funded programmes, conducting financial management courses for directors and accountants of medical institutions.

From 2008 to 2009, he worked as a national consultant for the World Health Organization, participating in working discussions with representatives of CIS countries, Europe and Middle Eastern countries concerning the review of National Health Accounts, including meetings in Switzerland and the Middle East.

From 2006 to 2009, as a lecturer under a USAID primary healthcare programme, he conducted nationwide training courses aimed at improving the management skills of medical institutions for the heads of healthcare facilities operating throughout Armenia.

From 2009 to 2010, under a USAID primary healthcare programme, he served as coordinator for the introduction of a performance-based financing programme.

From 2014 to 2016, he worked as an international consultant on the World Bank and Tajik Ministry of Health and Social Protection’s “Improving the Quality of Healthcare Services” programme, supporting the introduction of a unified per-capita financing norm in primary healthcare and carrying out data analysis and modelling.

From 2016 to 2019, he worked as an international consultant on the World Bank and Tajik Ministry of Health and Social Protection’s “Improving the Quality of Healthcare Services” programme, assessing and integrating a performance-based financing system in primary healthcare.

From 2017 to 2018, he worked as an international consultant and team leader with Management4Health GmbH on an assessment of Tajikistan’s health financing system and preparations for introducing a case-based hospital financing system under a grant programme provided by the Asian Development Bank.

From 2019 to 2020, he worked as a health financing adviser with the World Bank and Management4Health GmbH during the preparation of a master plan for Kyrgyzstan’s healthcare system.

From August 2020, he worked as an international consultant and team leader on the Asian Development Bank’s “Integrated Services for Maternal and Child Health” programme, developing and introducing a completed-case-based financing system in the hospital sector.

From May 2021, he worked as an international consultant with the World Bank and Tajik Ministry of Health and Social Protection on the “Improving the Quality of Healthcare Services” programme, improving the primary healthcare financing formula and developing a performance-based assessment model.

From 2021 to 2022, he worked as a transition expert under the Global Fund programme to combat tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.

From 2023 to 2024, he worked as a team leader and health financing expert on a programme supporting the introduction of comprehensive health insurance at Armenia’s National Institute of Health.

From 2023 to 2024, he worked as a health economist on a Twinning programme with Business and Strategies in Europe.

From 2024 to 2025, he served as Head of the State Health Agency of the Ministry of Health.

From 2025 to 2026, he served as Acting Director General of the Universal Health Insurance Fund.

From 2005 to 2022, he also worked with the World Bank, the Health Project Implementation Unit, the World Health Organization, World Vision Armenia, Armenia’s National Institute of Health, USAID-funded programmes, the Youth Foundation of Armenia, UNAIDS, the Asian Development Bank and UNICEF, holding positions including working group leader, national and international expert, health financing expert, team leader, health policy and financing adviser, lecturer and research team leader.

He is the author and co-author of more than 30 scientific papers, national reports and analytical articles, and is the author of the handbook “Financial Management of Medical Organisations”. He is also the founding president of the Health Economists Association non-governmental organisation.

He is married and has one son.