WIKIMEDIA, UK DEPARTMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, 52, was elected the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO) after 185 out of 194 health ministers cast their votes in Tuesday’s election. He is the first African to lead the health agency and also the first director-general to come from a developing country and to not hold a medical degree, according to STAT.
Tedros was Ethiopia’s minister of foreign affairs from 2012 to 2016 and minister of health from 2005 to 2012, according to a WHO news release. As the health minister, he curbed death rates from malaria, AIDS, and tuberculosis, the New York Times reported.
His promises as the new director-general include improving access to birth control and health insurance as well as increasing agency accountability and diversity, according to the Times.
Tedros will follow Margaret Chan’s decade-long tenure in the position. Chan congratulated her successor as she addressing the assembly following the election announcement. “It is a great privilege and honor ...
_(cropped).jpg){kind=link}