SEA/RC60/R10
EQUITABLE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE EXECUTIVE BOARD
The Regional Committee, Having considered documents SEA/RC60/11 and SEA/RC60/11/Inf. Doc, Noting that Article 24 of the WHO Constitution provides that the Health Assembly shall take into account an equitable geographic distribution in electing the Members entitled to designate a person to serve on the Board, Commending the constructive considerations put forward by the High Level Consultation (Delhi, May 2007) and the Regional Expert Group (Bangkok, August 2007), Concluding that a geographic distribution based solely on the number of Member States per region does not adequately reflect the principle of equitable geographic distribution and does not take into account other possible parameters that reflect the constitutional mandate and mission of WHO, and Concluding further that, on the basis of such alternative parameters, the South-East Asia Region appears to be underrepresented in the Executive Board, 1. AGREES that the criteria by which seats in the Executive Board are allocated to the regions should be revised to better reflect current realities as well as the mandate and mission of WHO, and should include parameters such as population, disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), as well as any other factor deemed appropriate, in addition to the number of Member States in each region; 2. CONSIDERS that the application of the additional criteria should lead to an increased and more equitable allocation of seats to the South-East Asia Region; 3. URGES Member States to actively support this process, both through their participation in the work of the Executive Board and through their diplomatic missions in Geneva; 4. REQUESTS the Director-General, through the Regional Director, to propose the inclusion of an item entitled “Equitable geographical distribution of the membership of the Executive Board” in the provisional agenda of the 122nd session of the Executive Board, and 5. REQUESTS the Regional Director (a) to support Member States, in particular those that are Members of the Executive Board, in building their capacity to effectively participate and represent the interests of the Region in the deliberations of the governing bodies of WHO;
-2(b) to facilitate inter-regional consultations and to report to the Sixty-first session of the Regional Committee on progress in the implementation of the present resolution.