LONDON (AP) — Health ministers in the Western Pacific nominated a surgeon from Tonga, Dr. Saia Ma'u Piukala, to lead the World Health Organization's regional office at a meeting in Manila on Tuesday. Piukala's nomination for WHO's top job in the Western Pacific comes months after the U.N. health agency fired its previous director, Dr. Takeshi Kasai, following allegations of racism and misconduct first reported by The Associated Press last year. Piukala was most recently Tonga's minister of health and defeated rival candidates from China, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands and Vietnam. Days after the AP report, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced that an internal investigation into Kasai had begun. ___The Associated Press health and science department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group.

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Persons: Saia Ma'u, Takeshi Kasai, Piukala, ” Kasai, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, ”, ” Piukala, Temo Waqanivalu Organizations: —, Western Pacific, Health, The Associated Press, WHO, AP, Associated Press, Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science, Educational Media Group Locations: Tonga, Manila, Western Pacific, China, Philippines, Solomon Islands, Vietnam, Kasai, Pacific, Western, Syria, Congo