India-backed Sheikh Hasina’s daughter wins polls for WHO post

Sandeep Dikshit

Advertisement

New Delhi, November 1

Saima Wazed, daughter of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and a mental health expert, has won the election of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) regional director for Southeast Asia which comprises 11 countries. She is also an advisor to the WHO’s director-general for mental health.

The election posed a dilemma for India as opposite her, opponent Shambhu Prasad Acharya from Nepal, was also of a friendly country. Both candidates had canvassed intensively for their nomination.

In the end, India-backed Saima secured eight votes and Acharya two.

Wazed will be the first Bangladeshi to hold the post created in 1948.

The nomination will be submitted to the WHO Executive Board during its 154th session, taking place on January 22-27, 2024 in Geneva, Switzerland. The newly appointed Regional Director will assume office on February 1, 2024.

The voting took place during a closed meeting at the 76th session of the WHO Regional Committee for South-East Asia region.

Bangladesh, Bhutan, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Timor-Leste took part in the voting in New Delhi on Wednesday on the third day of the session.

Myanmar did not attend the meeting.

Wajed is a licensed school psychologist in the US and a faculty member of the Adrian Dominican School of Education at Barry University, US.

“I come from a well-known political family that most are familiar with and incorrectly assume that I have always lived a life of privilege. Despite being born in Bangladesh as the granddaughter of the Father of the Nation, my earliest memories were that of growing up in India as a refugee,” she has written on her personal website.

Sheikh Mujib was assassinated on August 15, 1975, along with most of his family members. Sheikh Hasina survived the attack but could not return till 1981.