Saima Wazed resigns from WHO

Saima Wazed, the World Health Organization’s Southeast Asia head and daughter of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, resigned on Wednesday, according to her resignation letter seen by Reuters, following fraud investigations by the UN agency and Bangladeshi authorities.

Saima’s case shows how the fallout from Hasina’s ouster following a deadly uprising against her around mid-2024 has spread to her family members, beyond her political allies. Many of Hasina’s allies face criminal charges, including for alleged corruption in Bangladesh, or live in self-imposed exile like Hasina.

The WHO placed Saima, who took office as its Southeast Asia regional director in early 2024 for a five-year term, on unpaid administrative leave late last year. She was first sent on leave in July 2025 after Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission, under an interim government that replaced Hasina, filed charges against her in March that year alleging fraud and forgery.

The WHO accused Saima of “committing financial fraud in relation to her travel to China” and of misrepresenting her academic credentials, according to a separate letter from her lawyers to the WHO on Jul 3, 2026, seen by Reuters. Saima has denied the allegations.

The WHO also alleged she had illegally acquired a plot of land in Bangladesh, according to her resignation letter to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Saima said she acquired the land before she joined the WHO and was entitled to it under a Bangladeshi law that covered the families of the country’s independence leader, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Hasina’s father.�"bdnews24