New York: Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of Ethiopia was voted director general of the World Health Organisation on Tuesday, the first African ever to head the agency.
The election was the first conducted by the WHO under more open and democratic rules. After nearly two years of public campaigning, originally by six candidates, the voting took place in a closed-door session in which the health ministers of 186 countries cast their ballots in secret. Tedros — a malaria expert who campaigned under his first name — ultimately beat David Nabarro of Britain after three voting rounds. The final tally was 133 votes to 50, with three abstaining or not voting.
Tedros, 52, replaces Margaret Chan of China, who has held the post for a decade.
He is best known for having drastically cut deaths from malaria, AIDS, tuberculosis and neonatal problems when he was Ethiopia’s health minister. He trained 40,000 female health workers, hired outbreak investigators, improved the national laboratory, organised an ambulance system and oversaw a tenfold increase in medical school graduates.
As the head of WHO, he promised to pursue health insurance in even the poorest nations, strengthen emergency responses and make the agency more accountable and transparent.
He backs greater access to birth control and preventive care for women and is committed to having more gender and ethnic diversity in the agency. He also has promised to fight the health effects of climate change.
“It’s a joy, the continent is celebrating at last,” said Janine Barde, a Rwandan delegate, flashing a victory sign to another African representative. “I feel stakeholders are now in charge, not bureaucrats.”
The race, which began in 2015, turned bitter in recent weeks as an adviser to Nabarro accused Tedros of having covered up repeated outbreaks of cholera in Ethiopia, which may have delayed the international response and, more recently, the use of a cholera vaccine there.
Although the WHO directorship is the pre-eminent health policy post in the world — one in which bold leadership can turn the tide against epidemics — the organisation itself is in peril.
The agency was accused of fumbling the response to the 2014 Ebola epidemic, and it is seriously underfinanced.
The United States is its largest donor. But President Donald Trump has shown little interest in the United Nations and has strongly suggested that his administration will push for funding cuts.
