Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh is the first Indian woman WHO Regional Director

Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh is the first Indian national woman to assume the office of WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia on February 1, 2014. She is currently serving her second five-year tenure in office when she was re-elected by the Region’s 11 Member States in September 2018. Read on to know more about her.

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Early career

• Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh was a Civil Servant in India for over two decades prior to her service as Regional Director of WHO South-East Asia Region. This included roles as both Joint-Secretary and Secretary of Health in the State of Punjab.

• In the year 1987, she moved to the Health, Population, and Nutritional Department of the World Bank.

• In 1998, she became a part of WHO headquarters as Executive Director, Sustainable Development and Healthy Environments Cluster and became a member of the Director-General’s Cabinet.

• From 2000-2013 Dr Khetrapal Singh served as WHO Deputy Regional Director for the South-East Asia Region. In February 2013, she joined the Government of India’s Ministry of Health & Family Welfare as Advisor for International Health. There her main task was to strengthen global health outcomes and provide guidance to the Ministry to take forward the international health agenda.

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Image Source: WHO YouTube

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Personal Life

Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh is married to A. Didar Singh. Just like Dr Poonam, Didar Singh is an ex-IAS official as well. There was an instance where the two were standing against each other in an official capacity as Dr Poonam Khetrapal was a votary of strong anti-tobacco policies and her husband was advocating the cause of those affected due to anti-tobacco stance of the government. At the time, Dr Khetrapal was the WHO regional director and Didar Singh was the FICCI General Secretary.

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