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The Race for the Biggest Job in Global Health

The post of Director General of the World Health Organisation is up for grabs .The successful candidate will have to try to improve health around the world

In the world of global health, the post of Director General of the World Health Organisation is up for grabs as the current head, Dr Margaret Chan, has been in the post for 10 years. The successful candidate will have to try to improve health around the world, as well as dealing with crises like bird flu, Ebola, Zika and antibiotic resistance. Although the official list of nominations will not be published until September, three potential candidates have already emerged – all of them qualified doctors.

Ethiopian Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of Ethiopia is rumoured to have already been endorsed by the executive council of the African Union. Known simply as Tedros, he has served as his country’s health minister and minister of foreign affairs, leading various initiatives on HIV/Aids, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.

Another probable candidate is former health minister, Frenchman Dr. Philippe Douste-Blazy, who chairs the executive board of Unitaid, an international organisation dedicated to improving the diagnosis and treatment of HIV/Aids, tuberculosis, and malaria. In an interview earlier this year he neither confirmed nor denied that he would be running.

Sania Nishtar is a cardiologist and former minister of health from Pakistan who is also thought to be interested in the WHO top job. She founded Heartfile in 1999, which has grown from a health information-focused NGO to a health policy think tank.

Helen Branswell, who is a senior writer on infectious diseases and global health for the health website STAT, explains that although it may not be officially an African country’s β€œturn”, Tedros is a very strong candidate.

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Photo: Checking world health. Credit: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images

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