Top US official urges WHO to address sexual misconduct

LONDON (AP) — A top U.S. health official urged the World Health Organization to address allegations first reported by The Associated Press that one of its doctors repeatedly engaged in sexual misconduct.

“There are many of us who stand with survivors and stand with those who identify as victims and are truly committed, but also frustrated by where things have stood to date," Loyce Pace, assistant secretary for global affairs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, told a meeting of WHO's Executive Board on Tuesday.

Last month, the AP reported that a WHO doctor accused of sexually assaulting a woman at a Berlin conference in October was flagged to senior WHO directors years ago for allegedly harassing another staffer. The earlier allegation didn't result in any significant consequences for the doctor, Temo Waqanivalu, who was preparing to run for regional director of the Western Pacific, with help from WHO colleagues and the presidential office in his home country of Fiji.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the meeting that a probe into the October incident had been completed.