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Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus: Ethiopian wins top WHO job

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus from Ethiopia will be the next director general of the World Health Organization (WHO). He will be the first African to head up the UN agency, after winning the most votes from 186

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus from Ethiopia will be the next director general of the World Health Organization (WHO).

He will be the first African to head up the UN agency, after winning the most votes from 186 member states.

He replaces Margaret Chan, who will step down from her 10-year post at the end of June.

During her tenure, the WHO’s response to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa was criticised for being too slow.

The agency was accused of missing key warning signs about the severity of the outbreak that began in December 2013 and ultimately killed more than 11,000 people.

Addressing the World Health Assembly shortly before the vote, Dr Tedros promised to respond to future emergencies “rapidly and effectively”.

He also promised to stand up for the rights of the poor.

“All roads should lead to universal health coverage. I will not rest until we have met this.”


Who is Dr Tedros?

Age: 52

Family life: Married, with five children and lives in Ethiopia

Previous jobs: Ethiopian minister of health and foreign affairs, chairman of the board of the Global Fund to Fight Aids, TB and Malaria

Qualifications: Internationally recognised malaria researcher, with a PhD in community health


His election was not without controversy.

He has recently been accused of covering up three cholera epidemics in Ethiopia, but his supports say this is untrue.

Ethiopian opposition groups are also critical of Dr Tedros. They accuse the government of human rights abuses and believe that Dr Tedros’ candidacy is an attempt to raise the country’s diplomatic profile.

Dr Tedros said his vision as the new director general was of “a world in which everyone can lead health and productive lives, regardless of who they are or where they live”.

He told delegates at the World General Assembly: “I promise I will get up every day, determined to make a difference… I am ready to serve.”

His top five priorities in his new job are:

  • Advancing universal health coverage
  • Ensuring WHO responds rapidly and effectively to disease outbreaks and emergencies
  • Putting the wellbeing of women, children and adolescents at the centre of global health and development
  • Helping nations address the effects of climate change on health
  • Making the agency transparent and accountable

Analysis By Tulip Mazumdar, global health correspondent

Although some people see Dr Tedros as a controversial pick, many others point to his impressive CV and track record, and insist he is the best person to lead the world’s “guardian of global health”.

As well as serving as Ethiopia’s foreign affairs and health ministers, he’s also chaired the Global Fund, which mobilizes and invests about $4bn a year to fight Aids, tuberculosis and malaria.

During the election campaign, Dr Tedros told me about the deep injustice he felt as a child when his five-year-old brother died of what he now believes was measles. He said the disparity of care between the developed and developing world continues to be utterly unacceptable.

Dr Tedros says universal healthcare – where everyone has access to affordable care when and where they need it – will be central to his presidency.

This is indeed the holy grail of global health, and Dr Tedros is now the man in charge of pressing governments to make it happen.

Source: BBC

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Review overview
39 COMMENTS
  • Meretse May 24, 2017

    Congratulations! Dr. Tedros

  • Habtu May 24, 2017

    This is yet another contribution from Asmara to Ethiopia and the world. Tedros was not only born and raised but also educated (K-16) in Asmara. He didn’t know Ethiopia until he left Asmara a couple of years before 1991 for Addis after his graduation for a job. How is that for TPLF made? I would say he is Asmara made.

    Asmara never stops producing unique sones and daughters!

    • Sahi May 24, 2017

      Bejaka suk bel hbey. If Eritrea could produce and nourish minds like Meles Zenawi, Tedros Adhanom and Arkebe Okubay, it wouldn’t be the North of Korea of Africa, the most failed country in the world. Eritrea lacks the responsible administration and respect for basic human rights and rule of law before it can produce exquisite internationally acclaimed leaders and personalities on par with Meles, Arkebe and Tedros. These 3 honorable men are from the Tigray/Tigrinya ethnic group as is Wedi Medhin Berad, Monkey and all the other PFDJ leaders but the difference is the latter bunch are morally and psychologically corrupt. Isayas and his cronies chose to be gangsters instead of responsible and respectful leaders. They lost long ago to Meles and his group. Meles is king!!

      • Habtu May 24, 2017

        I guess you are not a friend to facts. Again, Tedros is Asmara made more than anything else!

        • Sol May 24, 2017

          Habtu,
          Your Asmara, born and grown dictator what the hell he is doing to the poor people of Eritrea isn’t he systematically destorying Eritrea and conspiring with Egypt to stop the dam building. The victory and assignment of Dr. Tedros is a victory to Ethiopian, African and 3rd world people.

          • Habtu May 25, 2017

            I suspect that the one or so year time he spent in ademehara at AAU might have brought out the evil in him.

            Tedros is 100% Asmarino! You can’t get more asmarino as one who has his K-16 in tsaeda!

    • Fesseha May 25, 2017

      Habtu,

      That is ok, Habtu – whether he is Asmara made or Mekelle, does not make any difference. He speaks, what you speak and you guys have more commonality than differences. Nevertheless he is from Tigray, Ethiopia.
      Lets be friends and good neighbors from two separate and sovereign countries. If we respect each other, appreciate each other we will succeed not only in East Africa but in the World stage. We need to change the political view of the old generation be it – TPLF or EPLF. Why should the old generation play politics at our expenses
      Seriously – We Tigrays and Eritreans alike need to change our attitude a lot – We don’t need to accept the status quo
      If I can be good friends with some one from Sudan, Kenya or Somalia why not from Eritrea – who looks like me than the others?

      • Habtu May 25, 2017

        Fesseha,
        Amen to what you just wrote.

        Let’s hope that the leaders would see the bigger picture and move on to a better and better things. These people have suffered more than enough because of unwise leaders.

        Wish my Asmarino Tedros good luck on his new assignment!

  • Habtu May 24, 2017

    This is yet another contribution from Asmara to Ethiopia and the world. Tedros was not only born and raised but also educated (K-16) in Asmara. He didn’t know Ethiopia until he left Asmara a couple of years before 1991 for Addis after his graduation for a job. Then went to grad school to in UK like everyone else. How is that for TPLF made? I would say he is Asmara made.

    Asmara never stops producing unique sons and daughters!

  • k.tewolde May 24, 2017

    The Dr. has built a good resume for himself to impress his colleagues resoundingly to cast the vote for him,kudos! he is a pride of his nation and a pride for the entire black African people. The political pundits can mix it up however they want,fact is he didn’t win the post by EPRDF’s 100% approval but he got the nod from the one of the most influential organizations in the globe, the WHO. That said,what is the chance of an Eritrean winning such a prestigious global post under HGDEF”s anti intellectual brutal rule? we will be lucky if we can win the chairman of our neighborhood homeowners association. And please,don’t call me a ‘woyane stooge’,it is old.If you can state facts to counter my opinion, bring it on.

    • k.tewolde May 24, 2017

      Otherwise,let’s hail the win of the smiling Dr. and the worst we can do is envy him,like Mom used to say,’ ZEYKEN’EE AYWELED’ and thrive to build a just and progressive society conducive of nurturing its own intellectuals who can compete at the highest level to bring our beautiful country to the forefront to be noticed by the world community instead of killing them like the tyrant has been doing over half a century.

      • amanuel May 24, 2017

        I do not know where he grew up, but he did graduate from universty of asmara when it was a respected university adminitered by the derg ofcourse. I heard my instructor who now lives in the usa say that he was one of his many students in high post in ethiopia. Now, the abandoned university is inhabited by birds crying for help. It is a victim of pfdj itself.

        • Habtu May 24, 2017

          He grew up in the Villago/Tsegerat area of Asmara and went to Kehas (later Red Sea) high school and entered Asmara University in the Fall 1982.

          • k.tewolde May 25, 2017

            Habtu,thanks for the background info,I went to ‘kehas’ too,but what is that got to do with his tremendous achievement? We need to distance ourselves from this narrow nationalism and look at this good news from a broader spectrum and celebrate the man as a glass ceiling breaker and tell the bafoons in Asmara if they didn’t wipe out our intellectual treasure,we would have even many in his age group heading organizations like IMF,UN,AU,FIFA……Lets keep it real,ZIGEDEFELNA YEBLUN.

    • andom May 25, 2017

      K.tewelde
      “What is the chance of an eritrean winning such a prestgious post under pfdj brutal anti-intellectual rule?”

      The answer is an absolute zero. If WHO was in asmara iseyas would appoint Filipos a high school drop out as director to head it.

      • k.tewolde May 25, 2017

        Can you imagine andom! To begin with,Eritrea under this brutal clique will never be a candidate as headquarters for any global organization such as the WHO,may be the epicenter of human trafficking and money laundering with the kingpin at the helm with his party COSA NOSTRA.

  • fitsum May 24, 2017

    congragulation wedi asmarino Dr. Tedros

  • Tes May 24, 2017

    Congratulation dr Tedros
    Very inspirational for all Africans and wish good luck. University of Asmara would be proud from its ash. Whar are going to say the force of adversaries in Asmara. Depriving the children of Asmara to achieve the impossible by killing the only one institution in land. 26 years of restrictions leader without visions leading the country in to a cliff edge. They celebrating independence for achieving nothing ecept destroying what all important things for progression.

  • ደበሳይ May 24, 2017

    Shame on the shaebyan mouth piece http://www.meskerem.net and http://www.tesfanews.com for their useless efforts to tarnish the professional achievements of Dr. Tewedros. they worked hand in gloves with the enemies of the Eritrean and Tigrean people- the Barbaric extreme Neftegnas to defame Dr. tewedros but the Civilized world ignored their hateful pleas and voted 133 in fever out of the 185 voters.
    ናይ ሻሂ ቤት በላህቲ ሻዕብያን ባርባራውያን ነፍጠኛን’ሲ ሳላ ድንቁርነኦም ዓለም ኣብ ከብዲ ኢዶም ት ሽክርከር ይመስሎም!!!
    ሥልጡን ዓለምና ግና ዘይጠቅሙን ዘይነፍኡን ምኳኖም ብተግባር ነጊርዎም፡፡ ደ/ር ቴዎድሮስ አብ ጢኢና ሕዝብታት ዓለምና ንኤርትራውን ሀዊሱ መሠረታዊ ቅርሳዊ ለውጢ ንካምፁ ትጽቢት ይግበር፡፡
    ሻዕብያውያን በባርባርያዊ ፊዊዳል ባህለ ዓምሀሩ፣ ብሀጠው ቀጠው ፀባያት ወታሀደራት ፋሺስቲ ሙሰለኒ፣ ብዐእራብ ጽላኣት ሕዝቢ ሀበሻ ዘተዋሀደ ባህሪያት ተሸሚምክን ሕዝቢ ለኪምክን ካብትጠፍኣሲ ናብ ነብስኪን እንተተመለስክን ይሀይሽ እምበር ብእንዳ ሻሂ ሀተውተው ተምጽኣኦ ለውጢ አይክህሉን፡፡ ቀድሚ ኩሉ በመንነትክን ዕመና!!! ኣብዛ ዓለምና ግና ዋላ ክንዲ ጣፍውን ክብደት ኣያብልክንን!!!

    • amanuel May 24, 2017

      What can u expect from a first year college drop outs. They are all an f students with majority of them embarassingly grade 4-8 education. They are very proud of that and try to tell u grade 4 during their time is much better than todays degree.

  • Gezae May 24, 2017

    Congratulations Dr.. Tedros and the people of the Ethiopia

    No matter what our difference was/is, we Eritreans are Ecstatic for the victory of Dr. Tedros-Adhanom. And we believe Dr. Tedros from know on word will not only TPLF, EPRDF, Ethiopian or African as he pronounced in his voice but the representative of the whole World especially the Third/ developing .world countries who are lingering or hanging his authentic endeavor/performance. May God/Allah helps you..

  • Gezae May 24, 2017

    Gezae May 24, 2017

    Congratulations Dr.. Tedros and the people of Ethiopia

    No matter what our difference was/is, we Eritreans are Ecstatic for the victory of Dr. Tedros-Adhanom. And we believe Dr. Tedros from know on word will not only TPLF, EPRDF, Ethiopian or African as he pronounced in his voice but the representative of the whole World especially the Third/ developing .world countries who are lingering or hanging his authentic endeavor/performance. May God/Allah helps him/you..

  • Biru May 24, 2017

    Shaebya hates brilliant and intellectual. The only love is political power. Isayas ordered the closure of Asmara university for grip of political power by avoiding challenges for democracy form university intellectuals and students. Now the only power shaebya is left with is envy of any thing which is Weyanes achievement. we all remember that when UN members voted On Ethiopia’s united nations security council membership it got more than 180 countries voting in fever. that was very surprising. Now again, Dr. Tewedros scored 133 out of 184 votes which is great.
    I expect Shaebyans to claim again it is the American Administration which ordered nations to vote for Dr. Tewodros!

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