Marit Viktoria Pettersen

Senior Adviser, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway

Marit Viktoria Pettersen, Norway, is a Senior Adviser at the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, specialising in global health and development policy since 2009. She has represented Norway at numerous World Health Assemblies, served as the focal point for WHO cooperation, and recently contributed to the G20 health process as a member of the G20 Health Working Group (Norway as guest country), and her portfolio includes engagement in the Lusaka Agenda and global health architecture, Johannesburg follow-up and cross-sectoral work linking health, climate change, and development. She led the development of Norway’s global health strategy Better Health, Better Lives strategy on combating noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and has coordinated cross-sectoral work linking health, climate change, and development.

She has worked at the World Health Organization (WHO) during two periods (2017–2018 and 2023–2025), focusing on noncommunicable diseases, climate change, and air pollution, and their interconnections. She contributed to policy development, coordinated cross-sectoral initiatives, and organised WHO’s global conferences on air pollution and health. Ms Pettersen brings over 25 years of experience in international policy and negotiations, including WHO, UNFCCC, IMO, WMO, IPCC, UN-Habitat, and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition.

She has served on various boards and steering committees, including at the World Bank, related to climate change adaptation, and to pollution management. She holds a Cand. Scient. in Chemistry from the University of Oslo, with specialisation in atmospheric chemistry, and has additional studies in health law, development and French.