WHO Announces 6 Candidates For Director General; Experts Discuss Wishes For Leadership With Reuters

The Guardian: Who’s WHO? Six candidates named for next World Health Organization chief
“Six candidates from Africa, Asia, and Europe — including one Briton — have been nominated for the position of director general of the World Health Organization, at a time when experts have emphasized the need for the agency to prove it can be ‘transparent and accountable’ to the public…” (Hodal, 9/23).

Reuters: Six in the running to be next World Health Organization leader
“…Nominations for the position, announced on Friday, include Britain’s David Nabarro — who was the United Nations’ special envoy for Ebola during the crisis in 2014/15 — and Ethiopia’s foreign minister and former health minister, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Also nominated are Sania Nishtar, a former minister in Pakistan’s government; the French former health minister Philippe Douste-Blazy; Italy’s Flavia Bustreo — currently an assistant director general at the WHO; and a former health minister of Hungary, Miklós Szócska…” (Kelland, 9/23).

Reuters: Special Report — Wanted: a fighter for global health to lead the WHO
“…Reuters has spoken to eight … specialists … Much will depend on the WHO’s next leader. Richard Horton, editor of the influential medical journal The Lancet, said: ‘The WHO needs a director general who can speak truth to power.’ He said he is ‘very optimistic’ about what could be done at the WHO by the right sort of personality at the top. ‘If you have the right person, it’s a fantastic opportunity,’ he said. ‘If you have the wrong person, then it’s paralysis and failure’…” (Kelland, 9/23).

STAT: World Health Organization names six candidates running for director general
“…An African has never led the WHO, and there has long been talk that it is Africa’s turn. In the run-up to the nomination period, a number of potential candidates from that continent had been discussed. But in the end, only Tedros came forward and in late January, the African Union announced that it, as a bloc, is supporting Tedros. But whether that makes him a front-runner is impossible to say. As the rules of the race are currently written, countries will vote in a secret ballot next May — a process critics are hoping can be changed…” (Branswell, 9/23).

The KFF Daily Global Health Policy Report summarized news and information on global health policy from hundreds of sources, from May 2009 through December 2020. All summaries are archived and available via search.

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