Six Candidates Submitted for WHO Director-General
WHO announced that a forum will be held Nov. 1-2 for the candidates to present their visions to WHO Member States and the public and to answer questions from Member States on their candidacy.
The World Health Organization announced Sept. 23 that Member States have nominated six candidates for the position of WHO Director-General. Sept. 22 was the nomination deadline; since April 22, 2016, the 194 Member States have had the opportunity to submit a nominee.
The six candidates:
- Ethiopia has submitted the nomination of Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
- Italy has submitted the nomination of Dr. Flavia Bustreo
- France has submitted the nomination of Professor Philippe Douste-Blazy
- Great Britain and Northern Ireland have submitted the nomination of Dr. David Nabarro
- Pakistan has submitted the nomination of Dr. Sania Nishtar
- Hungary has submitted the nomination of Dr. Miklós Szócska
The director-general is WHO's chief technical and administrative officer and oversees its international health work. The current director-general, Dr. Margaret Chan, was appointed in 2006 and will complete her second term on June 30, 2017.
WHO announced that a forum will be held Nov. 1-2 for the candidates to present their visions to WHO Member States and the public and to answer questions from Member States on their candidacy. The forum will be webcast in all UN languages on the WHO website: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish. And in January 2017, WHO's executive board will create a shortlist with a maximum of five candidates, interview them, and nominate up to three to go forward for consideration by the World Health Assembly in May 2017, when Member States will vote in a new director-general.
The new Director-General will take office on July 1, 2017.