Poonam re-appointed Regional Director of WHO
Poonam Khetrapal Singh has been appointed Regional Director for World Health Organization South-East Asia, for a second five-year term.
The WHO Executive Board on Saturday unanimously endorsed Dr Khetrapal Singh, who was earlier also unanimously nominated by 11 Member countries of the Region for another five years.
Congratulating her, WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said: “The first woman to become Regional Director of WHO South-East Asia Region, you have provided dynamic leadership in a region that accounts for a quarter of the world’s population but a disproportionate burden of diseases. Under your leadership, the region has made remarkable progress.”
In her acceptance speech, Khetrapal Singh said: “It is a privilege to once again be appointed as Regional Director of WHO South-East Asia Region. The confidence you have reposed in me is humbling.”
Outlining her vision for the second term that begins on February 1, Khetrapal Singh said sustaining the gains, accelerating progress to finish the unfinished agenda and innovating, would be the approach to ensure the health and well being of the 1.8 billion people across the region. In her first term, Khetrapal Singh focused on building an increasingly responsive and accountable WHO in the region, while prioritising persisting and emerging epidemiological and demographic challenges; promoting universal health coverage and building robust health systems; strengthening emergency risk management and articulating a strong regional voice in global health agenda.
She identified eight flagship priority programmes, focusing on results and accountability, which are cascading into sustainable and result-oriented efforts.
In the last five years, inclusive, sustainable and quantifiable gains have been made in the Region and are accelerating in pace every year, she said.
Certified polio-free in 2014, WHO South-East Asia became the second WHO Region to eliminate maternal and neonatal tetanus in 2015. Four countries eliminated measles and six controlled rubella. Maternal and under-five deaths reduced significantly.
Thailand became the first in Asia-Pacific and the first with a large HIV epidemic -- to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis. Maldives and Sri Lanka were certified malaria free. Maldives, Sri Lanka and Thailand eliminated lymphatic filariasis, India was declared yaws-free and Nepal trachoma-free.
For universal health coverage, access to safe, high-quality medicine is being enhanced through the South-East Asia Regulatory Network established in 2016. The countries have developed multi-sectoral action plans for a whole-of-society approach to reverse non-communicable diseases.
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