A senior World Health Organization official was recently fired following allegations of sexual harassment in at least three cases.
Temo Waqanivalu, a Fijian doctor and former head of the WHO’s Non-Communicable Disease Unit, has been charged with at least three counts of sexual misconduct since 2017, according to media reports. The most recent known incident is said to have taken place in Germany: after the World Health Summit in Berlin in October, British doctor Rosie James announced on Twitter that she had been “sexually assaulted” there by a WHO employee. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus personally responded to James, saying he was “appalled” and wanted to offer personal support. The WHO maintains a “zero tolerance” policy for such behaviour.
In January, the AP news agency named Waqanivalu as the perpetrator of the case and went on to say that the WHO was aware of an earlier case from 2018 that had little impact on Waqanivalu’s career. Instead, as late as October, with high-level support, he was trying to become the top WHO official in the Western Pacific. The Financial Times reported previous allegations against Waqanivalu from 2017.
Extensive reform after abuse scandal
Facing mass criticism for its slow response to allegations of sexual abuse by posted workers during the 2018-2020 Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the WHO has since embarked on a comprehensive reform program. A 2021 independent report found that of 83 humanitarian workers accused of sexual exploitation and abuse of dozens of people in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 21 were WHO personnel.
Source: Krone
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