[Ip-health] Financial Times: WHO in turmoil after sudden death of leader

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

Main page content:
WHO in turmoil after sudden death of leader
By Frances Williams in Geneva and Andrew Jack in London
Published: May 23 2006 03:00 | Last updated: May 23 2006 03:00

The sudden death yesterday of Lee Jong-wook, director-general of the
World Health Organisation, threw the WHO into turmoil on the opening day
of its annual assembly in Geneva.

Dr Lee, 61, a Korean national, collapsed at an official function on
Saturday and died in hospital yesterday morning after surgery to remove
a blood clot from his brain.

Anders Nordstr=F6m, an assistant director-general, will serve as acting
director- general of the 192-member UN agency until Dr Lee's successor
is chosen. But officials said this could take as long as a year because
of the procedures required by the global health body.

The WHO's 34-strong executive board will meet early next week to decide
what to do.

Under current practice WHO member states have six months to nominate
candidates for election at the executive board meeting next January. The
new director-general, however, would not be able to take office until
confirmed by the WHO annual assembly in May 2007.

As tributes to Dr Lee poured in yesterday, notably for his initiative to
bring treatment to Aids victimsin poor countries, health experts raised
concerns about the future of the high-profile campaigns launched since
he took office at the WHO in 2003.

"This is a major period of uncertainty in global health," said
Christopher Murray, a former WHO executive from Harvard University.

Dr Lee, who had a background in infectious disease control, played a
pivotal role in launching WHO's new 10-year strategy to fight
tuberculosis, restructuring its work on malaria, and spearheading the
global drive to eradicate polio.

And, as the annual assembly prepared to discuss pandemic flu, insiders
expressed worries about continued efforts to boost funding for global
preparations to tackle the virus.

WHO said Dr Lee had taken the fight against infectious diseases,
especially the threat of pandemic flu, to a new level.

"Because of his conviction, the world is now better prepared for
pandemic influenza than it has ever been in history," it said in a
statement.

The Treatment Action Group, which lobbies for universal Aids treatment,
said Dr Lee had transformed WHO's response to the disease in setting the
ambitious "3x5" target to put 3m people on anti-retroviral drugs by the
end of 2005.

However, fewer than half that number have been reached to date.

A 23-year WHO veteran, Dr Lee was the first Korean to head a UN agency.

WHO is among the biggest of the non-governmental organisations, with an
annual budget of more over $1.5bn (=801.1bn, =A3790m) and nearly 8,000 staf=
f
worldwide.

Last November staff staged a brief walkout against job cuts outlined
under reforms drawn up by Dr Lee's predecessor.