MEMBER OF THE INDIAN PARLIAMENT, INDIA
Harsh Vardhan is currently a Member of the Indian Parliament. Previously, he served as Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare, Science & Technology, and Earth Sciences. He was elected Chairman of the Executive Board of the World Health Organization (WHO) in May 2020.
Dr Vardhan started his career in 1993 by being elected to the Delhi Assembly from the Krishna Nagar constituency in East Delhi until 2013, to the Loak Sabha in 2014 and in 2019 from the Chandni Chowk constituency in Delhi. He released the National Digital Health Blueprint formulated to provide universal healthcare to all citizens of India based on digital technologies for achieving higher efficiency and effectiveness.
As the State Minister of Health in 1994, he oversaw the successful implementation of the pilot project of the Pulse Polio Programme which involved the mass immunisation of one million children up to the age of three in Delhi. In 1995, this programme was launched nationwide leading to 88 million children being immunised. On 28 March 2014, India was declared polio-free by the WHO, as there had been no reported cases for three years.
Apart from serving as Advisor to the South-East Asia Regional office of WHO, Dr Vardhan was also nominated to the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization
Last updated: 21 Jul 2021