Saima Wazed took office as its South-East Asia regional director in early 2024 for a five-year term. File
| Photo Credit: ANI
Saima Wazed, daughter of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, resigned as the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) regional director for Southeast Asia. The resignation, according to sources, comes after member states recommended the termination of her appointment, bringing her five-year term to an early end. Ms. Saima Wazed’s tenure was marked by fraud-related investigations by both the WHO and Bangladeshi authorities.
Ms. Wazed’s resignation takes effect immediately. The WHO is expected to invite nominations for her successor in October. The Southeast Asia Region comprises 10 member states, including India and Bangladesh.
Ms. Wazed was placed on leave in 2025 after Bangladesh’s anti-corruption commission filed fraud and forgery charges against her. The charges included an allegation that she had presented an honorary doctorate as an academic qualification in her application for the regional director’s post. She has rejected the charges as politically motivated.
The action against Ms. Wazed came amid a sharp deterioration in relations between her family and the government that replaced Ms. Hasina after she left Bangladesh for India on August 5, 2024, following mass protests. Ms. Hasina is facing criminal cases in Bangladesh, including allegations relating to the crackdown on protesters. She has denied wrongdoing.
Separately, the WHO had been examining travel reimbursement claims relating to a trip to China. Ms. Wazed’s lawyers have described the issue as an administrative error.
Saima Wazed | Rise of the daughter
Saima Wazed was nominated by Bangladesh for the post of WHO regional director for Southeast Asia in August 2023 and was elected by the WHO Southeast Asia Regional Committee in November that year. The WHO executive board formally appointed her on January 23, 2024, and she assumed office on February 1, 2024 for a five-year term.
Ms. Wazed is a licensed school psychologist and holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in clinical psychology, as well as a specialist degree in school psychology, from Barry University, Florida.
Before becoming WHO regional director for Southeast Asia, she served as an adviser to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on mental health and autism and was a member of the WHO Expert Advisory Panel on Mental Health.
She also chaired Bangladesh’s National Advisory Committee on Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders and the Shuchona Foundation, and served as a Commissioner of the Chatham House Commission for Universal Health. She became the first person from Bangladesh and the second woman to head the WHO’s Southeast Asia Region.
Published – September 10, 2026 12:08 pm IST
