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Bangladesh on Wednesday won the election for the top World Health Organization (WHO) position in Southeast Asia after a high-decibel campaign that pitted a public health expert from Nepal against the Bangladeshi premier’s daughter.
The election was done by secret ballot during a meeting in New Delhi, with the participation of 10 member states of the South-East Asia Region of WHO that were eligible to vote.
Saima Wazed, the daughter of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, received eight votes, while the other candidate nominated by the Nepal government, Shambhu Prasad Acharya, secured two votes, according to a statement from the Bangladesh High Commission.
India was among the countries that had confirmed their support for the Bangladeshi candidate long before the election, which was preceded by a high-decibel and sometimes bitter campaign in the past few weeks.
A statement from WHO said Wazed was nominated by member states as the next regional director during a closed meeting at the 76th session of the regional committee for South-East Asia region.
The nomination will be submitted to the WHO executive board at a session to be held in Geneva during January 22−27, 2024.
The new regional director will take office from February 1 next year and will hold the post till 2028.
“This election with overwhelming support reflects the recognition of Saima’s passion and relentless work in public health and demonstrates the confidence and trust of the region in her leadership skills,” the statement from the Bangladeshi mission said.
Southeast Asia is one of the six regions of WHO, with its headquarters in New Delhi. It comprises 11 countries – Bangladesh, Bhutan, North Korea, India, Indonesia, the Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Timor Leste.
India had publicly maintained silence amid the heated campaign in recent weeks because of its strong ties with both Bangladesh and Nepal.
Acharya is a veteran of the WHO system and is currently a director in the office of Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus. Wazed is best known for her work in autism and played a role in updating Bangladesh’s public health-related rules and in enacting the country’s Mental Health Act of 2018 and National Mental Health Strategic Plan for 2020-25.
While the expertise of the candidates in public health issues is a factor, people familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity that most such elections to multilateral bodies under the United Nations (UN) and WHO are partly decided on geopolitical considerations. Lobbying for such elections often begins years in advance, with a country seeking support for its candidate in return for backing other nations in votes at some other UN or WHO agency.
The current regional director is India’s Poonam Khetrapal Singh, the first woman to hold the post. She is in her second five-year term following unanimous reelection in 2018.