The names of the candidates for the election of the next World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director of the Western Pacific were sent overnight by WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to the Region’s Member States.
The candidates are:
• Dr Song Li, proposed by China
• Dr Susan Mercado, proposed by the Philippines
• Dr Jimmie Rodgers, proposed by Solomon Islands
• Dr Saia Ma’u Piukala, proposed by Tonga
• Dr Tran Thi Giang Huong, proposed by Viet Nam
The Region’s Member States will vote to nominate the next Regional Director in a closed meeting during the seventy-fourth session of the Regional Committee for the Western Pacific, taking place from 16 to 20 October in Manila, Philippines.
The nomination will then be submitted for appointment by the 154th session of the WHO Executive Board, which takes place from 22 to 27 January 2024 in Geneva, Switzerland. The newly appointed Regional Director will take office on 1 February 2024 for a five-year term and be eligible for reappointment once.
Notes to editors
For more information on the election process and candidates, click here.
Working with 194 Member States across six regions, WHO is the United Nations specialized agency responsible for public health. The WHO Western Pacific Region is home to more than 1.9 billion people.
The Regional Committee for the Western Pacific is composed of ministers of health and senior officials from the countries and areas of the Region. They meet annually to agree on health actions and chart priorities for the work of WHO. Every fifth year, the Region’s Member States vote to nominate the Regional Director—the most senior representative of the Organization in each of the six WHO regions.
The 30 Member States of the Western Pacific Region that will vote in the election for the Regional Director are: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Cook Islands, Fiji, France (which has responsibility for French Polynesia, New Caledonia, and Wallis and Futuna), Japan, Kiribati, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Micronesia (Federated States of), Mongolia, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Republic of Korea, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (which has responsibility for the Pitcairn Islands), United States of America (which has responsibility for American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands), Vanuatu and Viet Nam.
The WHO Executive Board is composed of 34 members who each serve a three-year term. They are each designated by their WHO region: seven from the African Region; six from the Region of the Americas; five from the Eastern Mediterranean Region; eight from the European Region; three from the South-East Asia Region; and five from the Western Pacific Region. The list of current members is available here.