New Delhi/London — Saima Wazed, the World Health Organization’s regional director for Southeast Asia and daughter of ousted Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina, has tendered her resignation with immediate effect following internal United Nations inquiries and legal scrutiny in Dhaka. The development marks an intensifying spillover of Bangladesh’s political upheaval into international bodies, reaching the immediate family of the former prime minister who fled into self-imposed exile two years ago.
Wazed was initially suspended and placed on mandatory unpaid administrative leave in mid-2025 after Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission initiated cases alleging forgery and financial deceit under the country’s interim administration. Internal investigations by the WHO subsequently focused on allegations concerning improper expense claims related to travel in China, disputes over real estate acquisition in Bangladesh, and queries surrounding her listed educational credentials.
In her resignation letter addressed to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Wazed strongly refuted all allegations of impropriety, attributing the disputed travel claim to an administrative error by a subordinate involving $901. She maintained that the contested land rights were legally granted under domestic provisions honouring the lineage of the nation’s founder, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and noted that her doctoral recognition had been fully disclosed. Citing an irreparable breakdown in trust with senior leadership and mounting personal financial strain after months on unpaid leave, she stated that continuing in the regional office had become impossible.
Insiders familiar with the agency’s executive plans revealed that the United Nations health body intends to initiate the formal process to choose her successor next month. Official candidate nominations will open in mid-October, followed by vetting in December and a decisive vote by regional member states scheduled for late January to install a permanent five-year replacement.
