Ethiopia’s former health minister elected as WHO Director-General

Wednesday, 24/05/2017 16:46
Ethiopia’s former health minister Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has been elected as the next Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Newly-elected Director-General of WHO (Photo: Huffington Post)

Health ministers and other senior envoys to WHO's annual World Health Assembly elected Mr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus over Dr. David Nabarro of Britain, a U.N. veteran, in a third and final round of voting. Tedros received 133 votes to Nabarro's 50, with two abstentions. The third candidate, Pakistan's Dr. Sania Nishtar, was eliminated in the first round of voting.

Mr. Tedros, 52, will be taking over the position from Dr. Margaret Chan, who has been overseeing the agency since 2006. Tedros will serve a five-year term in the new position which will begin on July 1st. He will be the first health official from Africa to serve as Director-General.

He promised as the head of WHO to pursue health insurance in even the poorest nations, strengthen emergency responses and make the agency more accountable and transparent.

Tedros is a former Health and Foreign Affairs Ministers from Ethiopia. As a foreign affairs minister, Tedros focused on accelerating Africa’s economic, political and social development.

Tedros served as Ethiopia's Minister of Health from 2005 to 2012, then as its foreign minister for four years. As Health Minister, he drew praise for strengthening Ethiopia's health care workforce./.

Compiled by BTA

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