In two years, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has become a familiar face to the general public as the Covid-19 pandemic progresses.
The former Ethiopian Minister of Health, who has headed the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN's largest agency, since 2017, is set to be elected for a second term lasting five years.
The current director general was the only candidate running for re-election.
The members of the Executive Board of the WHO – around thirty countries, including France – formally validated his candidacy on Tuesday January 25, after giving him a great oral, during a vote by secret ballot and behind closed doors. .
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"Words fail me. Very grateful for the renewed support," commented the WHO Director-General, after the Executive Board's vote.
“The last two years have been very difficult,” he said, thanking states for their support during this period marked by the Covid-19 pandemic.
He still has to be formally elected in May by all of the organization's member states, an election without a foreseeable hitch, since he is the only one to stand.
Health crisis management appreciated
Since Covid-19 burst onto the world stage more than two years ago, he has received widespread praise for the way he has led the WHO through the crisis.
The WHO Executive Board #EB150 nominated @DrTedros for WHO Director-General position to be decided at #WHA75 in May 2022 pic.twitter.com/q7Mo5LgGEf
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) January 25, 2022
The first African to lead the WHO, Doctor Tedros, as he likes to call himself, has been on the front line since the start of the pandemic.
"We not only appreciate your leadership during this time, but also your humanity and compassion. In particular, your unwavering commitment to the most vulnerable people," South Korean Representative Kim Gang-lip said on behalf of countries in the Western Pacific region.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who succeeded China's Margaret Chan in 2017, is highly regarded, especially by African countries who have welcomed the attention given to the continent and his relentless campaign for the poorest nations to receive their fair share of Covid-19 vaccines.
Launched by the WHO in 2020, and under the aegis of its director general, the Covax program aims to distribute millions of doses of vaccines in countries in difficulty.
A program of solidarity between countries;
the doses to be financed by the wealthiest countries.
Aged 56, this malaria specialist is a graduate in immunology, a doctor in community health, a former minister of health and head of diplomacy in Ethiopia.
shadows on the board
If he enjoys wide support today, the Director General of the WHO has often been at the heart of the turmoil.
Accused of having been, in turn, during the pandemic, too close to Beijing, then to Washington, his political positions have also earned him criticism.
In 2017, his choice to appoint Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe as a WHO goodwill ambassador brought him harsh rebukes from several WHO member states and international organizations.
His comments on the humanitarian situation in Tigray, where he himself is from, led on January 13, 2022, the Ethiopian government to request the opening of an investigation for "forfeiture" - lack of loyalty - against him.
"Nowhere else in the world are we witnessing hell like Tigray," said the WHO director.
It is "appalling and unimaginable in our time, in the 21st century, for a government to deny its own people, for more than a year, access to food, medicine and everything they need to survive. “, he added, calling for a “political and peaceful” resolution to the conflict.
"Nowhere in the world are we witnessing a hell as in #Tigray. The situation is desperate. It is so dreadful and unimaginable that a government is denying its own people for more than a year food and medicine and the rest to survive. This has to stop," -- @DrTedros #Ethiopia pic.twitter.com/CgCAwhSqFa
— UN Geneva (@UNGeneva) January 13, 2022
While in office, a scandal around sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) perpetrated by 21 employees of his organization during the Ebola epidemic between 2018 and 2020 earned him a volley of green wood from several dozen countries. members who considered his reaction too soft and too slow.
On Tuesday, he repeated that he had been "horrified".
Despite these criticisms, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus managed to win support from China and the United States.
The French representative to the WHO, Jérôme Salomon, speaking on behalf of the 53 Member States of the latter's European region during the great oral, underlined the long list of global health challenges awaiting Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, "thus as institutional challenges" such as implementing plans to prevent and address "sexual abuse and harassment, including ensuring an organizational culture that promotes compliance".
The arrival of Democrat Joe Biden in the White House, who put the United States back into the fold of the WHO, gave Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus a second wind, while he was constantly attacked by the ex- US President Donald Trump (2017-2021), who had also cut off supplies to the Organization, accused of being too close to China and of mismanaging the pandemic.
The more critical tone of Dr. Tedros towards China, which he considers not to be transparent enough on the origin of the pandemic, has earned him some reprimands from Beijing, which however supports its renewal.
WHO's many challenges
After a first mandate marked by Covid-19, which exposed the shortcomings of the WHO, Dr Tedros will have to win the bet of strengthening the UN agency to better coordinate the response to global health crises in particular and prevent future epidemics.
"The pandemic has highlighted the challenge we face, which is that the world was not ready," he said during his grand oral.
During his presentation, he called on countries to "strengthen WHO's role at the heart of the global health architecture" and asked them to recognize "health as a basic human right".
But the contours of the reform have yet to be defined by the countries, some of which, concerned about their sovereignty, have little desire to give more power to the WHO.
"WHO's future success will depend on your support" for proposals to make member state contributions 50% of the organization's budget by 2028-2029, Dr Tedros said.
At the moment, 16% of the budget comes from mandatory contributions from states, the rest being voluntary contributions from public and private donors who decide how WHO can use them.
Funding the WHO, crucial as countries' expectations of it grow, especially since the pandemic, will be Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus' workhorse in his next term.
With AFP
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