World Health Organization Executive Board Narrows Director General Candidate List to Five
The World Health Organization's executive board, made up of representatives from 32 of its 192 members, yesterday narrowed the candidate list for a new WHO director general from eight to five, Reuters reports (Reuters, 1/21). According to Reuters, diplomats and sources said that the "leading" candidates are Pascoal Mocumbi, Mozambique's prime minister; Peter Piot, a Belgian epidemiologist who heads UNAIDS; and Jong Wook Lee, a South Korean who heads WHO's tuberculosis program (Nebehy, Reuters, 1/20). Other two candidates include Julio Frenk, Mexican health minister, and Egypt's former Health Minister Ismail Sallam (Reuters, 1/21). Current WHO Director-General Gro Harlem Brundtland will step down in June when her five-year term expires. The results of a secret ballot on Jan. 27 or Jan. 28 will determine which person will go before the annual World Health Assembly in May for approval (Reuters, 1/20).
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