Canvassing support

Pakistan’s National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) has given a call to women all over the world to support the candidacy of Dr Sania Nishtar, a Pakistani cardiologist, author and activist, for the position of director general of the World Health Organisation (WHO). Letters written by the commission will be sent across the world to canvass support for the position which will be finalised this month. Dr Sania’s case should be supported for a number of reasons. To begin with, she has both the experience and vision to be considered for the position. She is the founder and president of Heartfile, which began in Pakistan in 1999 as a health information-focused non-governmental organisation and evolved into a think tank on health policy issues. She served in Pakistan during the 2013 caretaker government as minister for science and technology, education and training and information technology and telecom. A cardiologist by training, she was Best Graduate of the Khyber Medical College in 1986 and holds a Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians of London and a PhD from King’s College London. Widely considered a thought leader on health policy, she has been a key drafter of several global health declarations.

The NCSW has also highlighted the fact that there are just a few women at the top level in the United Nations. It may be recalled that a survey conducted by the Credit Suisse Research Institute analysis of over 3,000 companies in 2016 showed that on a global average just 13.8pc of senior management positions (defined as CEO or reporting to the CEO) were occupied by women. Within the UN system, only 23pc of programmes, funds, specialised agencies or other entities are currently led by women.  Not since 2003, has the WHO seen a woman heading the organisation. Given that most of the WHO’s work is in the developing world and largely impacts women and children, it is time we had a competent woman from the developing world heading the organisation.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 20^th, 2017.

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