Poonam Khetrapal Singh re-appointed WHO regional director for South-East Asia

KATHMANDU, Jan 27: Poonam Khetrapal Singh has been re-appointed the regional director for World Health Organization South-East Asia, for a second five-year term, the organization said on Sunday.
 
The WHO Executive Board held in Geneva unanimously endorsed Khetrapal Singh on Saturday, who was earlier also unanimously nominated by its 11 member countries of the region for another five years, according to a press release issued by the WHO in Geneva.

WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, congratulated Khetrapal Singh on her re-appointment.

“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," the press release quoted Ghebreyesus as saying.

After her re-appointment, 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.”

Khetrapal Singh, an Indian national, is beginning her second stint on February 1, 2019. Outlining her vision for the second term Singh has said that sustaining the gains, accelerating progress to finish the unfinished agenda and innovating, would be the approach to ensure health and wellbeing of the 1.8 billion people across the region.