South East Asia is replete with examples of dynasts—from politics and entertainment to business and judiciary. Sons and daughters, who have either outshone their parents or have been eclipsed by them, have always made headlines in this part of the world.
Whether Saima Wazed Hossain’s name would have been associated with autism rights activism had she not been the daughter of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is a moot point. People close to her say that she started advocating for the cause of autistic children during her initial days in the United States. But the fact that the 50-year-old school psychologist has chosen to fight her first election on a platform that is a few degrees of separation away from the Bangladesh Parliament—General elections in Dhaka are due January 2024—is significant. The internationally renowned activist is up against Nepal’s nominee — public health specialist Shambhu Prasad Acharya.
The contest is already showing signs of being tougher than anything that Hossain would have faced had she limited herself to Bangladesh politics, which her family has owned since the birth of the country. That the WHO election is proving to be a challenge does not discount the current speculation about Hossain’s imminent foray into domestic politics. Her appearance at the recently concluded G20 summit in New Delhi alongside her mother has been grist to the mill.
Nevertheless, Hossain has chosen to fight her first electoral battle in global health to seek support for her chosen cause(s) — in the face of the inevitable scrutiny. The barrage of criticism wasn’t unexpected — The Lancet argued that a qualification in medicine or PhD is desirable for the post. But the publication failed to take into account that nothing in the WHO rulebook precludes Hossain’s candidature. Not even the director-general of the organisation needs a specific qualification to be eligible. Member countries are required to nominate people with a sound technical background in the health sector. The code of conduct emphasises more on things like “openness, dignity, equity, and good faith, as well as specific requirements on issues such as financial disclosure and avoidance of conflicts of interest”.
Interestingly, Hossain is fighting her electoral battle on her professional turf — her engagements with the global health fraternity have been numerous. The lack of a medical degree did not come in the way when she was nominated as Commissioner at the Commission for Universal Health at Chatham House alongside the likes of former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, former Mexican health minister Julio Frenk, Public Health Foundation of India’s former president Dr K Srinath Reddy, and Harvard University professor Rifat Atun.
Hossain has engaged with the health community in various other capacities too. In 2017, she became the WHO’s Goodwill Ambassador for Autism in South-East Asia Region. She was also recently appointed as the “Thematic Ambassador” by the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF), is an advisor to the WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and is a faculty member at Adrian Dominican School of Education (ADSOE) at Barry University, US.
Her interventions in the field of mental health and more recently, on the issue of universal health coverage (UHC) have been sustained by the global health community. Hossain delivered the keynote speech at a High-Level Side Event on Innovations for Achieving Universal Health Coverage during the United Nations General Assembly last month. Her X (formerly Twitter) timeline is replete with photos with the who’s who of the global political and public health arena, including US President Joe Biden. Many of the photos feature her mother too.
Hossain’s nomination has given the South East Asian Regional Organisation Regional Director (SEARO RD) election a political flavour it never had before. The incumbent is Poonam Khetrapal Singh, a former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer.
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Even WHO DG need not be a doctor
Bangladeshis, including politicians and civilians, are defending Hossain’s candidature on several grounds.
“She (Hossain) knows no less than any doctor about neurodevelopmental disorders,” says Dr Pran Gopal Datta, an MP in Bangladesh who has also been Hasina’s personal physician since 1989. The MP helped Hossain set up an organisation called the Global Autism Public Health Initiative, which evolved into the Shuchona Foundation over the years. Datta is currently the vice-president of the NGO, which works on spreading awareness, building capacity, and research that can help autistic children. “The current criticism about her candidature in the SEARO RD election is misplaced,” adds Dr Datta. The doctor is one of the best-known ENT specialists in Bangladesh and also a former vice-chancellor of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University.
Many in Bangladesh see the recent spate of criticism against Hossain as a bid to scuttle the chances of a Bangladeshi to secure an important position in the WHO. “Bangladesh has made some very notable achievements in the field of human development, in maternal and child health — in fact, left many in the region, including India, far behind on some of these parameters. There are many within the country who feel very strongly about this, and conversations hark back to the time when we had fielded Syed Modasser Ali for the post and he lost,” a senior journalist from a prominent Dhaka newspaper told me.
A tight election
The SEARO is one of the six regions of WHO with its HQ in New Delhi, India. The unit comprises 11 countries, including India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Timor Leste, and South Korea, which elect the RD. With the Indian government hinting at supporting Hossein in the contest for the RD’s chair during a closed-door vote later this month, her chances, despite the mounting criticism, are beginning to look brighter.
That Bangladesh may field a candidate for WHO’s SEARO RD position had been in the air for some time, but it was only during the first Public Health Diplomacy Conference in Dhaka in July this year that Hossain was presented to the world as the nominee. The conference was attended by the health ministers from the WHO SEARO member countries and was organised by Bangladesh’s external affairs ministry.
It is a kind of poetic justice that India’s support may turn the tide in Hossain’s favour. She had spent several years of her childhood in New Delhi when Hasina and her family had been exiled from Bangladesh in the wake of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s killing. Whether she now makes a triumphant return to the city of her childhood in an official capacity remains to be seen.
Abantika Ghosh is a former journalist and author. She is currently working with Chase India. She tweets @abantika77. Views are personal.