IIM B Prof. Nominated to WHO’s International Health Regulations Review Committee

Prof. Rupa Chanda of Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore is part of the team of world experts who will suggest ways of strengthening global health security

Dr. Rupa Chanda, Professor of Economics, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIM B), has been nominated to the WHO’s International Health Regulations 2016 Review Committee, which has been set up by the Director General of the WHO, Geneva. The Committee has been appointed with the task of reviewing the International Health Regulations (2005) with a view towards strengthening global health security. The Committee will provide its inputs and recommendations to the World Health Assembly in May 2016.

Dr. Rupa Chanda

The International Health Regulations, or IHR (2005), represent an agreement between 196 countries including all WHO Member States to work together for global health security. Through IHR, countries have agreed to build their capacities to detect, assess and report public health events. WHO plays the coordinating role in IHR and, together with its partners, helps countries to build capacities.

Professor Rupa Chanda has been with IIM B since 1997. Prior to joining IIM B, she was an Economist at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC.

Her research interests concern the WTO, international trade in services, regional integration and migration. She has published extensively and has presented her work at conferences, workshops, and seminars, both nationally and internationally and is an author of two books, namely, Integrating Services in South Asia: Trade, Investment, and Mobility and Globalization of Services: India’s Opportunities and Constraints in 2002, co-authored a book titled, Legal Services Liberalization and Reforms in India: Perspectives and Dynamics. 

The IHR 2016 Review Committee consists of experts with a broad mix of scientific expertise and practical experience in public health, security, law and trade. The members are some of the leading experts in the world in their respective fields and will act in their personal capacities.

At the World Health Assembly in May 2015, Member States determined a mandate for a Review Committee of the International Health Regulations (IHR) with the following objectives:

• to assess the effectiveness of the International Health Regulations (2005) with regard to the prevention, preparedness and response to the Ebola outbreak and to assess the status of implementation of recommendations from the previous Review Committee in 2011 and related impact on the current Ebola outbreak;
• to recommend steps to improve the functioning, transparency, effectiveness and efficiency of the International Health Regulations (2005), including WHO response, and to strengthen preparedness and response for future emergencies with health consequences, with proposed timelines for any such steps. (Image source – davidjmeyers)