Organization’s Work to be Judged by Impact on the People of Africa and on
Women
GENEVA, Nov. 10 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Dr Margaret Chan of China will be
the next Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO). After her
appointment, she told the World Health Assembly she wanted to be judged by
the impact WHO’s work has on the people of Africa and on women across the
globe.
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In her acceptance speech, Dr Chan said: "what matters most to me is
people. And two specific groups of people in particular. I want us to be
judged by the impact we have on the health of the people of Africa, and the
health of women. Improvements in the health of the people of Africa and the
health of women are key indicators of the performance of WHO."
"All regions, all countries, all people are equally important. This is a
health organization for the whole world. Our work must touch on the lives of
everyone, everywhere," she said. "But we must focus our attention on the
people in greatest need."
Dr Chan was nominated as Director-General on Wednesday by the WHO
Executive Board and her appointment was confirmed on Thursday by the World
Health Assembly. The Director-General is WHO’s chief technical and
administrative officer. She was previously WHO Assistant Director-General for
Communicable Diseases and Representative of the Director-General for Pandemic
Influenza.
Dr Chan obtained her Medical Degree from the University of Western
Ontario in Canada and also has a degree in public health from the National
University of Singapore. She joined the Hong Kong Department of Health in
1978, and was appointed as Director of Health in 1994. As Director, she
launched new services focusing on prevention of disease and promotion of
health. She also introduced new initiatives to improve communicable disease
surveillance and response, enhance training for public health professionals,
and to establish better local and international collaboration. She has
effectively managed outbreaks of avian influenza and the world’s first
outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
The procedures for the current nomination and election process were
decided following the sudden death of Dr LEE Jong-wook, WHO Director-General,
on 22 May 2006. At its meeting on 23 May, the WHO Executive Board agreed on
an "accelerated process" for electing a Director-General.
Dr Chan paid tribute to her predecessor. "We are all here because of the
untimely death of Dr LEE Jong-wook. We are also all here because of many
millions of untimely deaths. I know Dr Lee would have wanted me to make this
point. He will always be remembered for his 3by5 initiative. That was all
about preventing untimely deaths on the grandest scale possible."
Dr Chan told the Assembly that as Director-General she would focus on six
key issues for WHO: health development, security, capacity, information and
knowledge, partnership, and performance.
She emphasized the importance of global health security in her vision of
the Organization’s role: "Health security brings benefits at both the global
and community levels. New diseases are global threats to health that also
bring shocks to economies and societies. Defence against these threats
enhances our collective security."
Underlining the importance of strong systems to deliver health care to
the people who need it, she said: "All the donated drugs in the world won’t
do any good without an infrastructure for their delivery. You cannot deliver
health care if the staff you trained at home are working abroad."
She especially praised the people who deliver health care. "The true
heroes these days are the health workers with their healing, caring ethic.
They are determined to save lives and relieve suffering, and they work with
impressive dedication, often under difficult conditions. The world needs
many, many more of them."
Dr Chan underlined the diverse approaches needed to strengthen health and
health care in different parts of the world. "Many countries in Africa face
the challenge of rebuilding social support systems. Others in central Asia
and Eastern Europe are undergoing transition from planned to market
economies. They want WHO support. They want to make sure that equitable and
accessible systems built on primary health care are not sacrificed in the
process."She said she would strengthen WHO’s commitment to gather, analyse
and build recommendations based on evidence: "I plan to set up a global
health observatory to collect, collate and disseminate data on priority
health problems. I will integrate WHO’s research activities to more
strategically address a common health research agenda."
There is a growing number of initiatives and players in the field of
global health. Dr Chan said she would work strategically with partners to
deliver the best possible results for global health. " Today, collaboration
to achieve public health goals is no longer simply an asset. It is a critical
necessity. WHO needs to develop an approach to collaboration that emphasizes
management of diversity and complexity."
Turning her attention to the internal management of WHO, Dr Chan said: "I
will also accelerate human resource reform to build a work ethic within WHO
that is based on competence, and pride in achieving results for health."
She also addressed the challenges ahead of the Organization: "As we know,
not all of the problems faced by WHO in its efforts to improve world health
are subject to scientific scrutiny, or yield their secrets under a
microscope. You know the ones I mean: lack of resources and too little
political commitment. These are often the true ‘killers’."
Ending her address, Dr Chan repeated her pledge to work hard to improve
the health of people around the world. "The work we do together saves lives
and relieves suffering. I will work with you tirelessly to make this world a
healthier place."
Dr Anders Nordstrom, appointed by the Executive Board as Acting Director-
General of WHO in May, will continue in this role until a new Director-
General takes office.
All WHO Press Releases, Fact Sheets and Features as well as other
information on this subject can be obtained on Internet on the WHO home page:
http://www.who.int/.