Chairing WHO pandemic committee a lifetime experience for Dr Noor Hisham

KUALA LUMPUR: Chairing a World Health Organisation top-level committee is a lifetime experience, says Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

“It’s a lifetime experience chairing this highest committee in WHO,” said Dr Noor Hisham in a WhatsApp message to Bernama.

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The Health Director General is in Geneva chairing the second meeting of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Standing Committee on Health Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and Response (SCHEPPR).

The two-day meeting began on Thursday (April 13).

Dr Noor Hisham - who is retiring from the civil service in a week - was appointed as the committee’s first Chair for a term of between one and two years at its first meeting, which was held virtually on Dec 12 last year.

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Last Monday, the media reported that Dr Noor Hisham will retire as the Health director-general on April 21, after 35 years in government service.

During the meeting's remarks, Dr Noor Hisham emphasised that SCHEPPR’s main role is to support and strengthen the WHO, International Health Regulations (IHR) and Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB).

He said the introductory briefings by the Independent Oversight and Advisory Committee (IOAC), the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB) and WHO Health Emergencies (WHE) Programme were also provided to orient Standing Committee (SC) members to their work.

“As mentioned before, this standing committee will not duplicate, but rather complement, the good work done by the IOAC and GPMB. It is also crucial for the SC to prioritise its work as outlined in the TOR, and remain focused in its discussion and deliberation,” he added.

The WHO’s 34-member Executive Board, during its annual meeting in May last year, agreed to form SCHEPPR to help speed up its response to global health emergencies such as Covid-19.

The SC shall meet at least twice annually for the conduct of its regular work and may decide to convene extraordinary meetings in order to deal with urgent matters. - Bernama