After many years of leadership, the World Health Organization (WHO) for the first time will be led by an African. In a secret ballot, the World Health Assembly today elected Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, a physician and former health minister of Ethiopia, to be the agency’s new director-general.
After several nominations, there was a final three candidates; Dr David Nabarro who was nominated by the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Dr Sania Nishtar who was nominated by the Government of Pakistan and finally Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus nominated by the government of Ethiopia.
However, the African Union, representing 54 WHO member states, supported the candidacy of Tedros, who goes by his first name. “This is a historic moment,“ says Ashish Jha, a global health expert at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston. “I think it is a good thing for WHO.”
Dr. Tedros was health minister in Ethiopia between 2005 and 2012 and served as Ethiopia’s foreign minister the past 4 years. His achievements for public health have been widely recognised and applauded.
It was reported that Tedros beat Nabarro in the third round of voting with 133 to 50 votes. A third candidate, Sania Nishtar from Pakistan, was widely seen as a long shot and was eliminated in the first election round with 38 votes. It was finally announced that Tedros will succeed Margaret Chan, who will step down on 1 July after leading the organization for 10 years.
Tedros said before the election “Coming from this background, knowing survival to adulthood cannot be taken for granted, and refusing to accept that people should die because they are poor, I have dedicated my life to improving health, to reducing inequalities, to helping people everywhere live more productive lives.” He said he would work tirelessly to fulfill the promise of universal health coverage.
One of the organisation officials said:
“The challenge is not really about one leader, but whether the World Health Organization can reform, become less bureaucratic, respond to threats more quickly, act more innovatively.”
Ron Klain, a lawyer in Washington, D.C., and U.S. Ebola response coordinator during the West African epidemic, wrote in an email to ScienceInsider. “The world is putting its faith in Dr. Tedros to do that, and the stakes could not be higher—now, we will see if he can deliver.”
The election this time around took a different dimension from what it used to be. In the past, WHO’s executive committee, a body made up of 34 countries, chose one candidate who was then approved by the full assembly. This time, the board narrowed an initial field of six candidates down to three in January, leaving the final choice up to member states today which finally announced Dr. Tedros as the Director.
During his tenure as the Minister of Health, Ethiopia, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus led a comprehensive reform effort of the country’s health system, including the expansion of the country’s health infrastructure, creating 3,500 health centres and 16,000 health posts. He also expanded the health workforce by 38,000 health extension workers and initiated financing mechanisms to expand health insurance coverage. This is just to mention among others.
Hopes are high that Dr. Tedros will make Africans proud. No doubt that he succeeded in his country’s health sector during his tenure but here is a world battle and he is confident saying that he can handle it.
