Union Health minister Harsh Vardhan to take charge as WHO executive body Chairman

May 20: Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan is set to take charge as the chairman of the World Health Organization (WHO) Executive Board on 2 May, 2020. Harsh Vardhan, an ENT surgeon by training, would succeed Dr Hiroki Nakatani of Japan as the new Chairman.

The WHO’s South-East Asia group had unanimously decided last year that New Delhi would be elected to the executive board for a three-year-term beginning May. According to reports, the proposal to appoint a nominee from India as the new head of the WHO Executive Board was signed by the 194-nation World Health Assembly on Tuesday. The main functions of the Board are to implement the decisions and policies of the Health Assembly and facilitate its work.