New Presidency, new perspective at WHO.

The new President of the WHO “refuses to accept that people die because they are poor”.

 

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Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was appointed Director General of WHO and will take up his duties on 1 July 2017. His main ambition in this mandate is to achieve universal health coverage, which according to the WHO definition means that “all people and communities can use the promotive, preventive, curative, rehabilitative and palliative health services they need, of sufficient quality to be effective, while also ensuring that the use of these services does not expose the user to financial hardship.. ”

 

This priority really seems to matter for him since he saw his brother die for lack of medicines and refuses that the health is subjected to financial means. Dr Tedros, as he is called, is the first African to preside over the WHO – one of the most powerful UN agencies – and brings a new perspective, from the Third World. As well as an Ethiopian politician, he is a researcher specialized in malaria. The interview he gave to the newspaper “Le Monde” portrays a humble man attentive to the needs of the people.

 

His past actions confirm his commitment to universal health coverage, since when he was Minister of Health in Ethiopia, he implemented a comprehensive health system reform that allowed the creation of 3,500 health centres and 16 000 jobs. As a result of these measures, infant mortality has been reduced by two thirds, malaria-related deaths have been reduced by 75%, mortality by tuberculosis by 64%, and the country has achieved its Millennium Development Goals in the health sector.

 

The work of Ipse was presented in mid-May to Pierre-Jean Rozet, Social Adviser to the French Permanent Representation to the ILO and the WHO. We will therefore have a privileged interlocutor to decipher the achievements of this new presidency and keep you informed.