Dr Samlee Plianbangchang
WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia
Dr Samlee Plianbangchang, a Thai national, assumed office as WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia on 1 March 2004.
Dr Plianbangchang’s priority areas of work in the Region are:
- strengthening WHO’s leadership role in health development in the South-East Asia Region: fostering and strengthening external relations, partnerships and resource mobilization;
- advocating for a central role for health in social and economic development;
- further strengthening WHO’s technical capability and capacity to act more proactively and to respond more effectively to the needs of Member States; strengthening WHO country work by delegating more authority to WHO Representatives, and moving technical expertise closer to the countries when needed;
- further promoting intercountry cooperation through horizontal collaboration and multi-country activities, with particular attention to joint endeavours to tackle priority health problems in the border areas;
- strengthening collaboration with other Regions, especially the Western Pacific and Eastern Mediterranean through interregional activities in the areas of common interest;
- continually promoting health systems based on primary health care; and
- strongly promoting public health through health promotion and primary disease prevention to reduce overall disease burden.