Dr Edwin Ceniza Salvador has been appointed WHO Representative and Head of Mission in Afghanistan as of 15 July 2024. He was previously Director of the Emergency Programme for the WHO South-East Asia Region, based in New Delhi, India, a position he held for 2.5 years.

From 2019 to 2021, Dr Salvador was WHO Representative to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Prior to that, he was WHO Deputy Representative to Bangladesh for 4 years. During the initial influx of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar into Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, in August 2017, he was appointed Incident Manager for the crisis. His remit was to establish a suboffice to lead the initial WHO response and support the health ministry and Bangladesh government in their efforts to respond.

Dr Salvador’s career with WHO began in 2006, when he was recruited as a public health officer by the WHO Country Office in Sudan to work in Kadugli, South Kordofan. He went on to work in various leadership capacities for the WHO country offices in Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Nepal. While at WHO Nepal, Dr Salvador received the WHO Award for Excellence 2016 for his contribution to the 2015 Nepal earthquake response.

Before joining WHO, Dr Salvador worked with Medécins Sans Frontières for 7 years, in various African and Asian countries, and with the International Medical Corps for 3 years, in Burundi and Uganda.

A public health professional for more than 28 years, Dr Salvador has acquired rich and varied experience in emergency settings. He also possesses strong communication skills and sound managerial knowledge of WHO’s administrative and management processes.

Born in Manila, the Philippines, Dr Salvador received his medical degree from Cebu Institute of Medicine, Cebu, the Philippines. He also has a bachelor’s degree in medical technology and holds postgraduate qualifications from the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.