World Health Organization Division of Pacific Technical Support is delighted to announce the appointment of Mrs Elizabeth Iro, Secretary of the Cook Islands Ministry of Health, as the new Chief Nursing Officer for WHO.
The announcement was made by the WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, at the 68th session of the WHO Regional Committee for the Western Pacific, held in Brisbane, Australia. This appointment is the latest addition to the senior leadership team Dr Tedros announced last week, which includes representatives from every WHO region and is 60% women. With this announcement, Dr Tedros fulfils a commitment he made during his transition to the Director-General role to appoint a nurse to his senior team.
‘On behalf of my WHO Pacific colleagues, I am truly delighted to announce Mrs Iro’s appointment as the new Chief Nursing Officer for WHO. Many of us here in the Pacific have had the pleasure to work alongside and under the leadership of Mrs Iro. She is a true public health leader for the Pacific’ expressed Dr Corinne Capuano, WHO Representative for South Pacific and Director for Pacific Technical Support. ‘Whilst this may appear a loss for the Pacific, it is a gain for the world’
Mrs Iro has worked tirelessly for over 30 years to address public health issues both in the Cook Islands and across the Pacific. As the Cook Islands Secretary of Health, she has implemented health reforms to strengthen the country’s health system. These include developing the country’s National Health Roadmap 2017-2036, the National Health Strategic Plan 2017-2021, and the Health Clinical Workforce Plan.
She had previously served as the country’s Chief Nursing Officer and Acting Director of Hospital Health Services. For the first 25 years of her career, she was a staff nurse, midwife and charge midwife at hospitals in the Cook Islands and New Zealand.