If the idea of the World Health Organization conjures up images of white coats or diplomats, American Robert Blanchard will upend your perception of the scale, tenacity and downright grit of the people who make up WHO.
As comfortable in a hazmat suit on a single-engine plane as he was fighting fires in northern California, Blanchard leads WHO’s logistics operations to get lifesaving supplies to the frontlines of the world’s deadliest health emergencies.
“From where I’m sitting right now,” Blanchard shares, “I can reach two-thirds of the world’s population in less than eight hours—some of the most vulnerable people on the planet dealing with disaster.”
Originally from Manchester, Connecticut, Blanchard graduated from the University of Colorado before spending time in The Gambia with the Peace Corps. Upon his return to the U.S., he joined the U.S. Forest Service as a firefighter on the West Coast. “The experience instilled in me a sense of situational awareness in the midst of chaos. Everything sort of slows down and you remember to breathe,” he says.
That lesson would serve him well when he returned to school to bring his interests and prior experiences into further studies in public health and infectious disease epidemiology, first at George Washington University and then at Johns Hopkins.
Two decades, two kids, two stints in U.S. government service and a half-dozen countries of residence later, and it is no exaggeration to say that the work of this American has saved tens of thousands of lives.
The Essential Work of the Global Logistics Hub
Blanchard joined WHO’s Cairo office in 2018. “I didn’t know it at the time, but they basically threw me into the epicenter of the largest population of people in need of humanitarian assistance globally—Yemen, Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan and Syria, which was in the middle of its Civil War.”
Then the pandemic hit. “I was given a 3,000-square-meter warehouse and a three-person team when COVID-19 emerged. We slept in the warehouse to get around the curfew restrictions and so we could keep operations going 24/7. We were literally just trying to fill up airplanes as much as we could.”
Turns out, Blanchard was the right person in the right place at the right time.
With a career in logistics, he and his team went from a relatively fragmented supply chain to one of the most revered humanitarian logistics operations in the world. “Within three months of the pandemic, something like 80% of PPE that was delivered by WHO came from our staff, our team.”
That was six years ago. Today, WHO’s supply hub in Dubai manages supplies for 150 countries, handling inventory for 20 different business units within the organization, including serving as a distribution point for measles and malaria medicines. “We’re shipping an average of 100 metric tons of lifesaving items every week,” Blanchard notes. “It’s just nonstop. Nonstop delivery, nonstop procurement.”
“We’re shipping an average of 100 metric tons of lifesaving items every week. It’s just nonstop. Nonstop delivery, nonstop procurement.”
In those same six years, Blanchard and his team have reached over 200 million people—a number that does not include protective equipment for healthcare workers. On any given day, the hub manages an average of 80 or more active orders that range from emergency supplies for cholera in Chad, Ebola in Uganda and trauma and emergency surgery equipment for Gaza. “We’re now the single largest provider of goods stored in the International Humanitarian City [Emirates], which is the world’s biggest humanitarian zone. The growth has been exponential because the needs aren’t stopping and our efficiency has improved.”
“We’re now the single largest provider of goods stored in the International Humanitarian City… The growth has been exponential because the needs aren’t stopping and our efficiency has improved.”
Part of WHO’s logistics success is its ability to leverage that efficiency for cost savings. “People have seen how we’ve streamlined the work,” he says, “which has led to a lot of donations of flights and in-kind support.” Blanchard underscores that it is these tangible improvements that enable his team to deliver a significant quantity of supplies at no cost to the organization or to WHO’s donors. “All that money we save in transport costs go to more medicines and more hospital equipment directly to people in need.”
In 2024, the savings he generated covered the cost of the hub’s staff and operational costs three times over.
Blanchard highlights the crucial role of U.S. government support in WHO’s work. “A lot of supplies we procure from the U.S. are through USAID, especially PPE,” he remarks. “That’s critical, lifesaving support that enables us to detect pathogens earlier, protect healthcare workers sooner and prevent diseases from reaching the U.S.—all while saving lives and alleviating suffering.”
When asked about the current state of WHO funding, especially from the U.S., Blanchard was circumspect. “I’ve served my country under President Bush, President Obama and President Trump. Different administrations have different priorities. But I can’t imagine any American not agreeing with what we’re doing. We’re providing lifesaving medicines primarily to women and children impacted by humanitarian disasters they didn’t cause,” Blanchard stresses. “They didn’t create these diseases.”
While Blanchard and his team continue to deliver supplies that are saving lives, their work is also delivering hope that is its own essential medicine—all from one small warehouse turned global logistics powerhouse.
And though the chaos of his work or this moment has not slowed, he stays true to that California firefighter’s wisdom, “Remember to breathe.”
