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| November 9, 2006 |
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| Chinese Bird-Flu Expert Selected To Lead WHO |
WASHINGTON - November 9, 2006. The World Health Organization (WHO) nominated Chinese infectious-disease
expert Margaret Chan to lead the United Nations health agency,
underscoring the increasing importance countries throughout the world are
putting on halting the spread of pandemic flu and other deadly viruses.
Yesterday's selection of the 59-year-old Chan by WHO's Executive Board
also confirms China's growing clout in global politics and health, as well
as a desire to prod the country to be more forthcoming with health
information. China has been criticized for failing to disclose cases of
avian flu and severe acute respiratory syndrome to WHO until those
diseases had spread to Hong Kong and beyond Chinese borders. While WHO
officials say their recent pressure on China to track and report
infectious-disease cases more openly has been effective, Chan's nomination
suggests that many countries want the agency to be even more aggressive.
[The Wall Street Journal/Factiva]
Chan was the one left standing following the fourth round of voting by
the 34-member Executive Council of the UN agency. The last vote was 24-10
in favor of Chan, one source on the council said. Previous rounds of
voting eliminated successively Kuwait's Kazem Behbehani, Spanish Health
Minister Elena Salgado and Japan's Shigeru Omi. [EFE News
Service/Factiva]
Chan on Wednesday became the first Chinese national to run a leading UN
agency. It ends a period of uncertainty after the sudden death in May of South Korea's Lee Jong-wook, the previous Director General. The
appointment is also expected to deepen Beijing's engagement in global
health policy, with Gao Qiang, China's health minister, on Wednesday
pledging closer cooperation with WHO. [The Financial Times
(UK)/Factiva]
The decision-making body of the 193- nation organization, the World
Health Assembly, will be asked to approve the nomination by its board at a special session Thursday. The assembly has never rejected a candidate
nominated by the board. …Chan stepped aside from her job as the WHO's
Assistant Director General for Communicable Diseases to run for the top job in global health. The profile of the WHO, which has a two-year budget
of $3.3 billion, has risen dramatically with the emergence of global health emergencies like AIDS and threats from new diseases like bird flu.
[The International Herald Tribune, The Associated Press and Reuters]
Chan [has] championed health for developing countries in her campaign
for the top post. Chan paid tribute to the late Director General, Lee …
and his partly unsuccessful but continuing initiative to deliver
life-saving drugs to three million people struggling with HIV/AIDS in poor
countries by 2005. "He will always be remembered for the Three-by-Five
Initiative, that was all about preventing untimely deaths on the grandest scale possible," Chan said. … Chan gained initial praise as Hong Kong's health chief from 1994. However, she later faced a barrage of criticism of her handling of the SARS crisis. She first drew international attention with her swift action in ordering the cull of 1.4 million local poultry that halted an initial outbreak of H5N1 bird flu in the then British colony. …
The global health chief needs a blend of managerial skills, medical
knowledge and political judgment to navigate between the differing
priorities of developing countries and those of wealthy nations, headed by
the US, that dominate the agency's funding. With the advent of widespread
travel, Chan must marshal governments so that they react swiftly in unison
to cross-border health threats. The new UN health chief will also deal
with an expanding number of private actors in global health, including the
pharmaceutical industry and its pricing and research priorities. …
[Agence France Presse/Factiva]
Source: The World Bank |
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