Context: The contest between Bangladesh and Nepal for the regional head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has become increasingly heated and contentious.

WHO’s South East Asian Regional Office

• One of the six WHO Regions, WHO South-East Asia is home to over a quarter of the world’s population.
• It was established in 1948 with headquarters at New Delhi. 
• The Region is now composed of 11 Member Countries Bangladesh, Bhutan, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste.

Priorities:

1. Measles and rubella elimination;
2. preventing non-communicable diseases;
3. reducing maternal, under-five and neonatal mortality;
4. universal health coverage with a focus on human resources for health and essential medicines;
5. combating antimicrobial resistance;
6. scaling up capacities for emergency risk management;
7. eliminating neglected tropical diseases;
8. accelerating efforts to end TB.

Regional Committee for South-East Asia 

• It is WHO’s governing body in the Region.
• It is comprised of representatives from the Region’s 11 Member States, as well as Associate Members. 
• The Regional Committee meets every year to formulate policies and provide oversight for regional programmes.

The process of election for the regional director

• The Regional Director is appointed by WHO’s Executive Board in agreement with the WHO Regional Committee for Europe.
• The appointment of a Regional Director is for 5 years, and he or she is eligible for reappointment once only. 
• Any Member State of the Region may propose one or more people for the post of Regional Director.
• The Regional Director is elected by secret ballot at a private meeting of the Regional Committee.