Poonam Khetrapal Singh

Poonam Khetrapal Singh was the first woman to be elected as the World Health Organization Regional Director for South-East Asia in 2013 and was unanimously 
re-elected for a second five-year term in 2018. 

Prior to this she was a civil servant in India where she held many prestigious assignments. She worked in the Health, Population and Nutrition Department of the World Bank before moving to the WHO headquarters in Geneva as Executive Director of Sustainable Development and Healthy Environments Cluster in 1998. Dr Khetrapal Singh has devoted more than four decades to strengthening public health as a leader and manager at national and international levels. She has vast experience in developing evidence-based, scientifically sound policy in complex national and international health systems, leading large multi-sectoral teams and collaborating with global partners and health experts. There are several path-breaking successes associated with her during her tenure at WHO. She led over 20 disease eliminations in one or more countries of the WHO SE Asia Region. Apart from leading from the front in the response to the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004, the Nepal Earthquake of 2015 and the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr Khetrapal Singh initiated the WHO South-East Asia Regional Health Emergency Fund, which has supported 43 emergencies in 10 countries across the Region. She also constituted eight flagship priority areas which became a gamechanger for advancing health and well-being of the people of the Region. 

Dr Singh was recently honoured with the National Order of Merit Gold Medal by the King of Bhutan for her significant contributions to public health. She currently holds positions as a board member in numerous prestigious national and global institutions.