05 June, 2017
Ghebreyesus will be the first African ever to lead the United Nations health agency.
Before his election to the WHO director-general position, Tedros was Ethiopia's foreign affairs minister, and from 2005 to 2012 he was the country's health minister, according to a press release today from the WHO.
Tedros will take over on July 1, succeeding Margaret Chan, a Hong Kong native whose decade-long tenure was marred by the agency's fiercely criticised response to the Ebola epidemic in west Africa. Member States chose among Dr. Tedros, Dr. David Nabarro, nominated by Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and Dr. Sania Nishtar, nominated by Pakistan, at the World Health Assembly on May 23.
Update after round two of votes Dr. Tedros wins the second round of voting but is just one vote shy of the 66% required.
The third candidate, Pakistani physician Sania Nishtar, said she had a proven record of dealing with hard issues and would make constructive changes to the World Health Organization if elected.
Dr. Ghebreyesus replaces China's Dr. Margaret Chan of China, who has been at the helm for at least ten years.
Dr. Tedros is an Ethiopian politician and academic who has held the posts of both minister of health and minister of foreign affairs.
Tedros, who goes by his first name, spoke out about diversity and the importance of listening.
Tedros, 52, was known for having drastically cut deaths from malaria, AIDS, tuberculosis, and neonatal problems when he was Ethiopia's health minister.
Paul Spiegel, the director of the Center for Humanitarian Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, says the health challenges facing the world are growing more and more complex.
His priority would be "achieving universal health coverage".
Mr Tedros is now a Special Adviser to the Prime Minister of Ethiopia. "Many members of the World Health Assembly told me it smacked of dirty politics, and angered them against Nabarro".
The two-term World Health Organization chief, who served for 10 years in office, took personal responsibility for the WHO's delayed response in 2014 to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
He will be the first African to head up the United Nations agency, after winning the most votes from 186 member states.
"I will listen to you".
"He will bring great insight and the political leadership necessary to restore trust in the World Health Organization at a critical moment in its history", said Dr. Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, a major British charitable foundation.
