Dr. Mokhtar Ould Brahim

Dr. Mokhtar Ould Brahim is a general practitioner at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire National (CHUN) de Nouakchott — Mauritania's largest and most advanced public hospital, which serves as the principal referral centre for the capital and for much of the country's vast interior. Over 16 years of clinical practice in one of Africa's most challenging health environments, Dr. Ould Brahim has developed expertise in the distinctive disease landscape of the Sahel and Saharan zones: a mix of tropical infections including malaria and dengue in Nouakchott's coastal and southern areas, vector-borne diseases including leishmaniasis, heat-related illness reflecting Mauritania's extreme summer temperatures, and a growing burden of non-communicable diseases driven by urbanisation and dietary changes. Nouakchott has grown from a small settlement at independence to a city of over one million people, with rapid and largely informal urbanisation creating peri-urban communities with limited access to clean water, sanitation, and healthcare — conditions that perpetuate waterborne and parasitic disease transmission. Dr. Ould Brahim is trilingual in Arabic, French, and Hassaniya — the Arabic dialect spoken by Mauritania's Moor population — enabling him to communicate effectively with virtually all of Mauritania's diverse communities. He is actively involved in the CHUN's outreach to Nouakchott's peripheral health posts and is a respected primary care educator.

Dr. Ould Brahim completed his Doctorat en Médecine at the Faculté de Médecine de Nouakchott — Mauritania's national medical school, which was established through partnerships with Moroccan and French medical institutions. He holds a Diplôme en Santé Communautaire obtained through a programme supported by WHO AFRO and the Islamic Development Bank Health Initiative. He has participated in advanced training workshops on malaria case management, epidemic disease response, and non-communicable disease management in primary care settings, supported by the WHO Mauritania Country Office and Médecins Sans Frontières.

Dr. Ould Brahim's primary care expertise encompasses the full range of conditions encountered in Nouakchott's hospital setting. He is proficient in the clinical diagnosis and management of malaria — including Plasmodium falciparum in severe presentation — and in differentiating it from dengue fever, which has emerged as an important diagnosis in coastal Mauritania in recent years. He manages heat exhaustion and heat stroke — life-threatening emergencies during Mauritania's summer months when temperatures exceed 45°C — as well as diarrhoeal diseases, respiratory infections, and typhoid fever. He initiates and monitors antiretroviral therapy for HIV-positive patients in coordination with Mauritania's national HIV programme, and manages chronic hypertension and type 2 diabetes. He performs wound care, IV access and rehydration, and basic antenatal care.

Dr. Ould Brahim contributed to a WHO-supported epidemiological assessment of malaria and dengue co-circulation in Nouakchott and participated in Mauritania's national non-communicable disease risk factor survey. He has contributed case report data to the Revue Mauritanienne de Santé and has presented at the Société Mauritanienne de Médecine Générale conference on heat-related illness management and on primary care approaches to hypertension control in urban Nouakchott.

Dr. Ould Brahim provides consultations in Arabic, French, and Hassaniya, serving Mauritania's multilingual population as well as international patients including diplomats, humanitarian workers, and mining industry personnel who are based in Mauritania. He provides travel health assessments, tropical disease screening, and yellow fever vaccination for travellers to and from Mauritania. He is familiar with heat illness prevention protocols relevant for international visitors arriving during Mauritania's intense summer season and can facilitate referrals to Morocco or Senegal for specialist care unavailable at CHUN.

Dr. Ould Brahim was recognised by the Ordre National des Médecins de Mauritanie for sustained dedication to primary care in Nouakchott and for his contributions to community health education in peri-urban districts. He received a commendation from the WHO Mauritania Country Office for his participation in the national malaria and dengue surveillance programme and for his consistent application of evidence-based primary care protocols.