27 May, 2017
The election concludes a year-long process that was unprecedented in the history of the United Nations health agency - the first time all member states have been given the opportunity to choose the next WHO leader.
Ghebreyesus, who was nominated by the government of Ethiopia, will begin his five-year term on July 1, 2017.
The former health minister has been dogged by allegations that he covered up cholera outbreaks in Ethiopia, and protesters have occasionally interrupted proceedings at the meeting in Geneva this week.
All three candidates said that if they won, they would reform the WHO's bureaucratic system, put an emphasis on universal health care, and prevent the next worldwide pandemic.
"This is a make or break time for the World Health Organization", the director of the Center for Humanitarian Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Paul Spiegel, said.
In almost 70 years of the agency's existence, Ghebreyesus, the former Ethiopian health minister, is the first non-physician to get elected.
"All roads should lead to universal health coverage", he underscored, and this mantra should be the WHO's "centre of gravity".
A day after he became the first African to head the WHO, the former Ethiopian health minister told reporters in Geneva he had been in touch with many countries willing to help fill the gap if the United States slashes funding.
"Tedros election is a testimony of Ethiopia's acceptance by the worldwide community", said Ethiopian prime minister, Hailemariam Desalegn.
Ethiopia's Tedros Adhanom was elected as the new head of the powerful World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday, vowing to shake up an agency seen as needing major reform.
Previously, the director-general was selected by the WHO's executive board, then endorsed by the WHA.
Africa, known in the East and the West as "dark continent" is now set to run and manage the World's number one premier health institution, the WHO.
Tedros, 58, pledged to respond "rapidly and effectively" to emergencies and to stand up for the rights of the poor.
Ethiopian opposition groups are also critical of Dr Tedros.
With the current rise in disease outbreaks across the world, Spiegel believes that the world needs a strong WHO with a strong leader. He also served as board member of the several worldwide institutions, academic and global health think tanks including the Harvard school of public health. He is also the first non-physician to be elected to the post.
