A pediatrician and public health specialist with over 20 years of professional experience in health and human development at the project and country levels in the MENA region. Her engagement spanned GOVs, UN agencies, donors, and key partners in the development and analysis of policies, strategies, technical and operational guidelines, and research; she has also pioneered the identification of innovative and strategic approaches to program delivery based on project management areas covering health systems, population, nutrition, and neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). She has assisted regional health ministries in leading strategic policy dialogues and discussions with external partners and counterparts aimed at facilitating proper stakeholder analysis in the buy-in and adoption of crucial health financing program developments. Dhekra has a solid employment track record spanning international and UN agencies, projects, and initiatives (i.e., UNICEF, World Bank, Schistosomiasis Control Initiative/Imperial College London) and international consulting missions (WHO-EMRO, WFP Regional, FHI360/USAID, EU, and NGOs). She has also served as the NTDsʼ program manager for L&MICs (Yemen and Sudan) and senior consulted on key health projects and initiatives in Egypt, Sudan, and Tajikistan. Currently, she is a freelance senior public health and human development consultant.

She has also been internationally recognized in the MENA region for her considerable success in the regional Flour Fortification with Iron and Folic Acid program (in 2007). In 2017 Dhekra was also recognized by WHOʼs (Geneva) NTDs Program as the first female Arab medical doctor with exceptional service in fighting NTDs in difficult and gender-biased settings such as Yemen.
Dhekra holds a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery from the Medical School, Sanaʼa University in addition to several postgraduate diplomas in Child Health (Higher Council of Medical Specialization), Perinatal Medicine (Imperial College London of Medicine & Science), and International Early Childhood & Youth Care and Development (the University of Victoria Canada) and a Master of International Public Health (Lund University, Sweden).