The WHO’s 194 members yesterday were to choose among three candidates to replace WHO Director-General Margaret Chan (陳馮富珍), with each pledging to reform an agency under scrutiny.
Chan steps down on June 30 after a decade in which new epidemics such as bird flu and Ebola and decades-old campaigns against malaria, AIDS and malnutrition highlighted the complex health burden shouldered by the WHO.
Among the three vying to be the next WHO director-general is Ethiopia’s former foreign and health minister Tedros Adhanom, who if he wins would be the first African to hold the post.
Another former health minister, Sania Nishtar of Pakistan, is also on the list, as is WHO insider David Nabarro, a respected British doctor and diplomat who has spent two decades inside the UN system.
They are bidding to head perhaps the most influential of the UN agencies, which is responsible for coordinating the global response to health emergencies and raising awareness of health challenges ranging from pollution to obesity.
Yesterday’s marked the first time member states would actually get to choose between several finalists.
In the past, the executive committee presented them with a single candidate to accept and applaud.
Each candidate was to address the WHO’s main annual assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, starting at 2pm yesterday.
After that, delegates cast their ballots behind closed doors.
If no candidate is elected outright, which requires at least two-thirds of votes, a simple majority would decide between the two frontrunners.
All three have vowed to push ahead with a broad overhaul of the international organization.
WHO has already initiated a range of reforms since it faced crushing criticism for its slow response to the Ebola epidemic in west Africa that killed more than 11,300 people between late 2013 through early last year.
Chan, a Hong Kong physician who took the reins of the organization in 2007, acknowledged on Monday it had been slow to react to the Ebola disaster.
However, she defended her legacy, saying that the WHO had “made quick course corrections,” brought the outbreak “under control and gave the world its first Ebola vaccine.”
However, it is also widely recognized that more reforms are needed to give the WHO agility to cope with emerging threats.
“We live in a changing world and the WHO must be able to change with it,” 52-year-old Tedros said in his vision statement, citing new health perils from globalization, climate change and unhealthy lifestyles.
The malaria specialist enjoys strong backing from across Africa, but he also faces allegations he downplayed cholera outbreaks in Ethiopia with disastrous consequences — something he has denied.
Nishtar, the only woman in the running, has vowed to “restore trust” in the WHO.
The 53-year-old cardiologist has a good idea of how the organization works: Since 2014 she has co-chaired the WHO commission on ending childhood obesity.
Nabarro, 67, has spent half of his 40-year career inside the UN system. His combat duties have ranged from malnutrition and cholera to bird flu and the Ebola crisis, which was brought under control on his watch.
Nabarro embraces his insider status, insisting it makes him uniquely qualified to restructure the WHO.
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