Iceland secures backing for WHO Executive Board seat

Iceland has secured support for a seat on the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Executive Board, mbl.is reported, following a meeting of the organization’s Regional Committee for Europe in Copenhagen.

Ásta Valdimarsdóttir, director general of Iceland’s Ministry of Health, will represent the country on the board. Germany and Luxembourg, which had also put forward candidates for the same group of European countries, withdrew their nominations after the committee’s Standing Committee recommended Iceland. No vote was held.

The 34-member Executive Board is made up of representatives nominated by WHO member states for three-year terms. Iceland will be one of eight European representatives. The country last held a seat from 2003 to 2006, when Davíð Á. Gunnarsson, then director general of the Ministry of Health, represented Iceland.

Health Minister Alma Möller said in a government statement that international cooperation on health was becoming increasingly important and that a seat on the board would give Iceland the opportunity to influence WHO policy directly.

WHO member states are due to formally confirm Iceland’s seat at the World Health Assembly in May 2027. The three-year term will begin after that meeting and run until May 2030.