Push by Bangladesh PM’s daughter for WHO role raises transparency concerns

Obtain free World Well being Group updates

We’ll ship you a myFT Day by day Digest e-mail rounding up the newest World Well being Group information each morning.

Bangladesh has put ahead its prime minister’s daughter to change into the subsequent head of the World Well being Group’s south-east Asia area, sparking issues about the way in which candidates are chosen for senior roles on the UN well being physique.

Saima Wazed, a psychological well being advocate, is considered one of two candidates to be WHO director of south-east Asia, overseeing an annual funds of just about $500mn over two years for 2bn folks in 11 international locations. A vote is predicted on the WHO regional committee’s subsequent assembly on the finish of October.

She is standing towards Shambhu Acharya, a senior WHO official from Nepal, who has been on the UN physique for nearly 30 years and holds a PhD in public well being.

Present and former officers and well being specialists within the area have raised issues in interviews with the Monetary Instances concerning the WHO’s election course of and questioned Wazed’s suitability for the function. Candidates are put ahead by their respective governments and elected by a secret poll of the area’s 11 member international locations.

“If she weren’t the daughter of the PM, I don’t suppose she can be a critical candidate,” mentioned Kul Chandra Gautam, a former assistant UN secretary-general, who referred to as Wazed’s résumé “very skinny”.

“It doesn’t give picture of the UN system or of WHO,” added Gautam, who can also be Nepali. “That is clearly nepotism.”

Wazed, who holds advisory positions to Bangladesh’s authorities on psychological well being and whose mom is Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, instructed the FT that accusations of nepotism had been “offensive”, and cited her advocacy expertise as a part of her related skillset.

“I don’t know if it’s simply because I’m a Muslim girl or my mom is a politician,” she mentioned. “I don’t know why my {qualifications} come a lot into query however I’m used to that form of criticism.”

“I can’t assist that I’m who I’m,” she added.

Acharya declined to touch upon the election.

The WHO’s regional administrators are vastly influential within the well being physique’s hierarchy, working intently with the headquarters in Geneva to set and execute coverage objectives. Member states usually battle arduous to have their most well-liked candidates chosen, although there are often greater than two contesting a submit.

In a letter to the Lancet medical journal in Might, three public well being specialists referred to as for higher transparency in WHO elections, together with public debates quite than closed classes with regional member states.

A senior well being coverage employee within the nation mentioned Wazed’s nomination confirmed the politicisation of Bangladesh’s well being sector. “She got here from a political household and her mom is prime minister,” the particular person mentioned, noting “each single work that she does is highlighted” by the federal government.

AK Abdul Momen, Bangladesh’s overseas minister, dismissed accusations that Wazed was nominated due to her relation to the prime minister. “She’s candidate to assist enhance the well being sector in the entire of the area,” he instructed the FT.

Wazed, who based on election filings is educated as a college psychologist, oversees a charity and coverage analysis group in Bangladesh. A lot of her work has targeted on autism, however the filings don’t define any expertise managing transnational organisations with vital budgets.

The filings additionally present that Wazed is a PhD candidate in “training and management”.

Forward of the election, she has launched into a high-profile diplomatic tour, attending the UN Basic Meeting in New York and the G20 leaders’ summit in New Delhi this month alongside her mom.

She has publicised an array of meetings with international leaders, typically together with her mom, together with WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and New York Metropolis mayor Eric Adams forward of the UNGA, and with US president Joe Biden and India’s prime minister Narendra Modi on the G20.

She additionally attended the Asean summit in Jakarta this month and the Brics summit in Johannesburg in August, the place she met China’s president Xi Jinping.

Hasina, who has served as prime minister since 2009 and from 1996 to 2001, has more and more suppressed political dissent and civil society in Bangladesh. She is predicted to hunt re-election in elections as a result of be held by early subsequent 12 months and that are already being criticised after her authorities launched a crackdown on the opposition.

Mushtaque Raza Chowdhury, founding father of civil society group Bangladesh Well being Watch, mentioned Wazed’s choice can be “worthwhile for Bangladesh” and “assist the nation’s picture”.

The WHO declined to remark. The workplace of Bangladesh’s prime minister didn’t reply instantly to a request for remark.