In a Mission: Sharing technical knowledge and experience for healthier populace in the region (Video), Dr. Acharya

Dr. Shambhu Acharya has broad experiences on public health and the problems it faces at National, Regional and Global level working in the World Health Organization over the past three decades . He is currently the Director at the Department of Country Strategy and Support, based within the Office of the Director-General at WHO’s Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, and more importantly, one of the two contenders for the post of  Regional Director of WHO South East Asia.

The election is scheduled on October 31. Interestingly, Saima Wazed, a licensed school psychologist, and daughter of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed, has been fielded by Bangladesh government. Eleven member countries who are the members of the region will elect the new director to succeed Dr Poonam Khetrapal of India who has completed her two tenures heading the post during the past ten years.

Dr. Acharya appeared as a guest at Desh Sanchar Chautari and shared his vision to achieve the goal of healthier population in the region. The conversation also throws light on his abiding journey on the public health that has laid the foundation for his acclaimed expertise as an international health diplomat.

He recounts his early-career experience interacting with local populace and working directly with them is what influenced him to work in the public health sector. He expressed his gratitude to the Nepalese government for the opportunity of being nominated for the candidacy.

‘WHO regional director election is an election among public health leaders’, he said , adding only the public health leaders have been elected to the post to date. He further highlighted his prospect for the position, ‘I am highly optimist by nature and I am excited so far for the election following my experiences coupled with positive feedback from the public health professionals within and beyond the region.’

In a different context, he said WHO’s works are solely based on science and evidence and he has had not encountered political pressure throughout his long career here.

Dr. Acharya on his aspiration to serve in the region, stated ‘despite having 11 countries, the South East Asia Region consists ¼ of world population. Unless the population in the region is healthier, the goal of a world-wide healthier population is impossible to attain. While achieving a healthier population goal in the region alone, it’s the attainment of 1/4th of the goal and it is of course a significant achievement worldwide.

Dr. Acharya sharing on strength and challenges in the South East Asia Region said the region is full of potential as an emerging one with its economic and technological advancement along with youth talent and an improved pharmaceutical capacity.

‘WHO regional director election is an election among public health leaders’, he said , adding only the public health leaders have been elected to the post to date. He further highlighted his prospect for the position, ‘I am highly optimist by nature and I am excited so far for the election following my experiences coupled with positive feedback from the public health professionals within and beyond the region.’

‘Fostering these potentials further is an opportunity I foresee while the works towards how to leverage these potentials into health are among my priorities’, he stated. Owing to diversity in the region, prevalence of communicable diseases like Tuberculosis- 45 percent of TB cases are in this region- along with how to work in an integrated way to address increasing non-communicable diseases is a matter of concern. As the treatment of chronic non-communicable disease is expensive, working towards primary prevention is at my focus,’  he said.

He also shared his aspiration to implement learnings from COVID-19 in the region once he is elected as the leader here. The SEAR is also a disaster prone region, and integrating emergency preparedness with primary health care is also my priority. The scarcity of fundamentals like masks during COVID-19 taught us how important being self-reliant is. I aim to work on intercountry collaboration and technology transfer thereby enhancing the capacity of each country to supply at
least basic requirements by themselves.

He shared his slogan ‘Education for Health’ for attaining a healthier population. He explained the slogan is aimed towards creating a ‘social movement for health’ encompassing individual awareness to whole of factors, the whole of communities, the whole of societies, and the whole of government.

Dr. Acharya does not discount traditional medicine and believes it can be a part of the health system, however, it should be based on evidence. He added that WHO has a traditional medicine unit in its headquarters as well as regional offices and the organization promotes traditional medicine once validated.

He revealed that he himself is spiritually inclined – yoga practice and reading religious books sometimes have helped for mental peace.

Dr. Acharya still reminisces about his past as a commoner from a small village in Palpa. When asked how he looks back to his journey from a village in Palpa to a Nepali citizen beholding the highest position in WHO, he swiftly answered ‘I don’t look back since I feel like I belong there still. Being myself as a person doesn’t change at all with the changed position.’ However, the fervor to serve with all technical knowledge and experiences I have accumulated, and learning new knowledge from the youth is what I carry forward myself with.

Expressing his energetic self, he stated ‘If I am engaged, I am very Happy.’