LSIPR 50 2018: Tedros Ghebreyesus
Name: Tedros Ghebreyesus
Organisation: World Health Organization
Position: Director General
In its 70th year, the World Health Organization (WHO) is calling on world leaders to commit to concrete steps to advance health for all. The person leading the charge is Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
In May 2017, Ghebreyesus was elected as director-general of the WHO for a five-year term.
After taking office, he outlined five key priorities for the WHO: universal health coverage; health emergencies; women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health; health impacts of climate and environmental change; and a transformed WHO.
At a press conference in February, the director-general noted that his first seven months in office had been “a rollercoaster” because the WHO team had followed three principles: the need to move faster, the need for big changes, and the need to maintain quality.
His leadership team, which represents 14 countries and comprises more than 60% women members, prepared the WHO’s strategy plan in one year, a year ahead of schedule.
Ghebreyesus has introduced a new approach to the organisation’s emergency response operations and established a health security council. The council, chaired by the director-general, meets fortnightly to review the status of all health emergencies globally, and how WHO is responding to them.
In 2018, he has also announced the establishment of a high-level commission, which will propose “bold and innovative solutions” to accelerate the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases.
“WHO was founded on the conviction that health is a human right. It is a conviction I share. No-one should get sick and die just because they are poor, or because they cannot access the health services they need,” said Ghebreyesus in a regional committee meeting in October last year.
"WHO was founded in April 1948, and its primary role is to direct and coordinate international health within the United Nations."
Ghebreyesus served as Ethiopia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2012 to 2016, and between 2005 and 2012 served as Ethiopia’s Minister of Health. There, he led a reform of the country’s health system.
WHO was founded in April 1948, and its primary role is to direct and coordinate international health within the United Nations.
