Saima Wazed, daughter of ousted Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina, has resigned as regional director of the World Health Organization’s South-East Asia Region, a day after the WHO regional committee recommended that her appointment be terminated.
Wazed stepped down on September 9 amid investigations by the UN health agency and Bangladeshi authorities into allegations including financial fraud and forgery. She has denied all the accusations.
The WHO said the recommendation to terminate Wazed’s appointment was due to be considered by its executive board.
Wazed was elected regional director by the WHO South-East Asia Regional Committee in November 2023 for a five-year term beginning in February 2024. Reports said she was placed on unpaid leave in 2025 after Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission filed cases against her over alleged fraud and forgery.
The WHO subsequently investigated allegations concerning her travel expenses and academic qualifications.
According to a letter sent by Wazed’s lawyers to the WHO and cited in media reports, the agency accused her of financial misconduct involving official travel to China and of misrepresenting her academic credentials.
Wazed rejected both allegations. She said the travel-related issue involved an administrative error by an assistant and concerned an amount of $901.
Regarding her academic credentials, Wazed said she held an honorary doctorate recognising her work on autism in Bangladesh and maintained that she had been transparent about the nature of the qualification.
She also rejected a WHO allegation concerning the acquisition of a plot of land in Bangladesh. In her resignation letter to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Wazed said she had acquired the property before joining the organisation and was legally entitled to it under Bangladeshi law.
Wazed also criticised the WHO leadership in her resignation letter, saying she had lost trust and confidence in its leadership and alleging that she had been prevented from effectively carrying out her responsibilities.
The WHO rejected those allegations, saying the matter had been handled through established procedures and in accordance with principles of “fairness and due process”.
Wazed’s resignation brings an abrupt end to a WHO tenure that began with her election in 2023 and unfolded against the backdrop of mounting political and legal controversy surrounding her family in Bangladesh.
