Public Goods for Health is a concept which is very much a focus of WHO

From Director General (DG), Indian Council of Medical research (ICMR) and Secretary, Department of Health Research, Dr Soumya Swaminathan went to Geneva in October 2017 to take over as the Deputy Director General (DDG) of Programmes at the World Health Organisation (WHO), to be the first Indian to hold this position. Exactly a year back, in March 2019, she took over as the WHO’s first Chief Scientist, a new position heading a division created as a part of sweeping reforms at WHO to have an explicit focus on science. A year after taking over the new and important position at an international level that is expected to create a foundation for a new department, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan spoke to Milind Kokje, chief editor, BioSpectrum while she was in Chennai, India recently about her new role, its responsibilities and other health related issues. Edited excerpts;

- Milind Kokje

How would you describe your current international stint as a Chief Scientist of World Health Organisation (WHO)? How has been your experience since you took over in March 2019?

The role of the Chief Scientist is a new one and it is very interesting and a challenging position. It is a new position created in WHO. Although WHO is the science-based organization, Dr. Adhanom Tedros, Director General, WHO, wants to ensure that there is an explicit focus on science and hence this new division and a new position to head that division was created.

Our mission is two-fold. First, to ensure that WHO stays ahead of the curve to have sight on what is coming in terms of new scientific and technological developments. Not only because those developments can be leveraged for public health, but also, we need to be prepared to meet some of the new challenges, especially ethical and regulatory challenges which invariably are associated with new technology as there are risks that need to be addressed and minimized. That is one of our major focus.