Election of Regional Director 2023 » Live virtual forum of candidates for WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean

To strengthen transparency around the election of the next World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, a live forum of candidates will be held on Monday 2 October 2023, 10:00−14:30 Cairo time.

The forum was requested by the current Chairperson of the WHO Regional Committee for the Eastern Mediterranean, Her Excellency Dr Mai Alkaila, Minister of Health of Palestine, and agreed by Members of the Regional Committee. It will be moderated by the Vice Chairperson of the Regional Committee, His Excellency Dr Firas Abiad, Minister of Public Health of Lebanon.

The candidates are:

Dr Najim Abbas Jabir Al-Awwadi, proposed by Iraq

Dr Hanan H. Balkhy, proposed by Saudi Arabia

Dr Anass Doukkali, proposed by Morocco

Dr Abdul Ghaffar, proposed by Pakistan (proposal withdrawn)

Dr Ali Akbari Sari, proposed by the Islamic Republic of Iran

Dr Ahmed Farah Shadoul, proposed by Sudan

The candidates will each give a presentation on their experience and expertise, and present the vision of what they hope to achieve as Regional Director to deliver on the core mandates of WHO in the Eastern Mediterranean Region.

In addition, the candidates will answer questions from Members of the Regional Committee, who will connect virtually. This will provide a further opportunity for the Members to acquaint themselves with the candidates and assess their suitability for the role.

Selection of questions

Each Member joining the virtual forum may ask questions if it so wishes. Members are invited to indicate the candidate(s) they wish to ask a question by writing to the Regional Office at the following email address: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it not later than 1 October 2023, at 16.00 hours Cairo Time. The tokens bearing the names of the Members wishing to ask questions will be put in the relevant receptacles (one for each candidate.) Members that nominated a candidate are expected not to ask a question of the candidate they nominated.

After each candidate has made an oral presentation, the Chair will pull the tokens one-by-one, on a random basis, until the time available is exhausted. After each token is drawn, the corresponding Member State will be invited to ask a question, and the candidate invited to provide an answer.

Questions and Answers

Members will have up to one minute to ask one question only. Multiple part questions will not be permitted. Candidates will have up to three minutes to respond to each question. Questions and answers may be provided in Arabic, English and French.

Each interview will conclude when the 40 minutes for the interview have elapsed, even if there are still questions pending. However, a candidate will be permitted to complete their answer to the question being addressed when the 40 minutes elapses.

Time-keeping

It is anticipated that a clock to be displayed on the screen will be used to assist the participants to keep within the time limits during both parts of the interview.

How to watch

The forum will be livestreamed on this page in Arabic, English and French.

About the election of the Regional Director

At the next session of the WHO Regional Committee for the Eastern Mediterranean, taking place on 9−12 October 2023 in Cairo, Egypt, the Members of the Regional Committee will vote to nominate the new Regional Director. The nomination will then be submitted to the next meeting of the WHO Executive Board, taking place on 22−27 January 2024 in Geneva, Switzerland. The newly appointed Regional Director will take office on 1 February 2024. Find out more information about the election process and candidates.

The 22 Members of the Regional Committee for the Eastern Mediterranean, which will vote in the upcoming election for the Regional Director, are: Afghanistan, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, the Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

Contact

For more information, email:

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