Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, who is at the forefront of India’s battle against COVID-19, is set to take charge as the chairman of the WHO Executive Board on May 22, officials said on Tuesday.
Harsh Vardhan would succeed Dr Hiroki Nakatani of Japan, currently the Chairman of the 34-member WHO Executive Board.
The proposal to appoint India’s nominee to the executive board was signed by the 194-nation World Health Assembly on Tuesday, officials said on condition of anonymity.
Harsh Vardhan’s taking over the WHO post seems to be a formality after the decision that he will be India’s nominee as the WHO’s South-East Asia group had unanimously decided last year that India would be elected to the executive board for a three-year-term beginning May.
Harsh Vardhan would be elected at the Executive Board meeting of the World Health Organisation on May 22.
The chairman’s post is held by rotation for one year among regional groups and it was decided last year that India’s nominee would be the Executive Board chairman for the first year starting Friday.
It is not a full time assignment and the minister will just be required to chair the Executive Board’s meetings, an official said.
The Executive Board is composed of 34 individuals technically qualified in the field of health, each one designated by a member state elected to do so by the World Health Assembly. Member States are elected for three-year terms.
The Board meets at least twice a year and the main meeting is normally in January, with a second shorter meeting in May, immediately after the Health Assembly.
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