Short News

WHO Executive Board appoints

two Regional Directors

GENEVA: The World Health Organization (WHO) Executive Board, at its 134th session in Geneva, has appointed Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh as the new WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia and reappointed Dr Shin Young-soo as the WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific.

Dr. Khetrapal Singh, an Indian national, was until recently Deputy Regional Director for WHO’s South-East Asia Region. She will take up her new post on 1 February 2014, succeeding Dr Samlee Plianbangchang who has served as the Regional Director for South-East Asia for the past 10 years.
Before coming to WHO as Regional Director for the Western Pacific in 2009, Dr Shin served in the Republic of Korea’s Ministry of Health and Welfare, as Director of the National Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service and as professor of health policy and management at the College of Medicine, Seoul National University. He also served several times as the Republic of Korea’s representative on WHO’s Executive Board. His second term will begin on 1 February 2014.
The WHO Executive Board is comprised of representatives from 34 Member States. The main functions of the Executive Board are to give effect to the decisions and policies of the World Health Assembly, to advise it and generally facilitate its work.(PR)