WHO re -elected Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as its director until 2027

The countries that make up the World Health Organization (WHO) re -elected Ethiopian Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as director of the United Nations health agency.

The election of the incumbent, who has been in charge of the body since the covid-19 pandemic began, was unanimously held after no other candidate applied for the position. Ghebreyesus, a former Ethiopian government minister, will serve until 2027.

One of his first new challenges to WHO leadership was the monkey poxthat the outbreak appeared a few weeks ago in Europe.

Tedros is the first African to head the agency and the only CEO who is not a medical doctor. His first administration, marked by pandemic, received harsh criticism at times for its various mistakes.

One of these is due to the health agency’s decision not to pay attention to countries like China, or the months where it does not encourage the use of masks. Furthermore, in the beginning said it was “likely” that the virus would mutate rapidly.

Scientists hired by the WHO to investigate the origins of the coronavirus in China said the important investigation was “stuck” last year after a report that even identified Ghebreyesus was discarded immediately the possibility of laboratory leakage.

“There were some mistakes, but Tedros became a strong voice throughout the pandemic, promoting a fair response”, said Javier Guzmán, director of global health policy at Center for Global Development in Washington.

Voices in favor of Ghebreyesus

Tedros Ghebreyesus is often a young man in wealthy countries for hoarding the world’s limited supply of vaccines and insisting that drug companies are not doing enough to give the poor access to their medicines.

Since most of the world’s attention was focused on Ukraine in the face of Russia’s aggression, Ghebreyesus criticized the global community for not doing enough to resolve crises everywhere, including in Yemen, Syria and Afghanistanand said that perhaps it was because the sufferers were not white.

However, critics say Ghebreyesus failed on key issues such as holding his staff accountable, following allegations of sexual assaults against young women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo by workers responding to WHO, during the Ebola outbreak that began in 2018.

None of the WHO officials knew of the accusations and who did little to stop the abuses dismissed.

Some experts have expressed concern that the WHO not performing its primary function technical agency that provides science -based guidance to countries.

In July 2020, more than 230 scientists published a report where They asked the WHO to recognize that the coronavirus is transmitted through the airand ultimately led the organization to change some of its recommendations.

With information from news agencies.

LGP