[Ip-health] CBC: Race to fill WHO top job begins in earnest; system lacks transparency

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

<SNIP>

Declared candidates include Dr. Margaret Chan (China), WHO's assistant
director general for communicable diseases and a graduate of the
University of Western Ontario's medical school; Dr. Shigeru Omi (Japan),
head of WHO's Western Pacific regional office; and Mexican Health
Minister Dr. Julio Frenk, who also served as a WHO executive director
under former director general Gro Harlem Brundtland.

Other include: Ecuadorian President Alfredo Palacio; Spain's Health
Minister Elena Salgado, Dr. Kazem Behbehani (Kuwait), WHO's assistant
director general external relations and governing bodies; David
Gunnarsson, permanent secretary of Iceland's health and social security
ministry and a former executive board member; Dr. Pekka Puska (Finland),
a former WHO official and current director general of the Finnish
National Public Health Institute and Dr. Tomris Turmen (Turkey), a
former executive director for family and community heath at the WHO.



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http://www.cbc.ca/cp/health/060904/x090404.html


  Race to fill WHO top job begins in earnest; system lacks transparency


        18:02:00 EDT Sep 4, 2006


          Canadian Press: HELEN BRANSWELL


(CP) - The race to replace the director general of the World Health
Organization begins in earnest this week with nominations closing
Tuesday and a public announcement Wednesday of the candidates seeking
the job.

But in reality, for weeks now a dozen or so declared and undeclared
candidates have been criss-crossing the globe, seeking support in a
shadowy process critics say could produce a winner chosen not on merit,
but for the political favours his or her government is willing to extend.

"I think everybody is aware that the system is open to huge corruption
at the moment," Dr. Richard Horton, editor of the medical journal The
Lancet, said in an interview Monday.

"It's pretty clear to me that there are some candidates who really
shouldn't have an opportunity to get the WHO DG (director general) job,
but they will be strong candidates because of their governments and what
their governments can do for them."

"In the modern world this is no way to run a massive organization. The
candidates should be evaluated on the basis of their achievements and
their vision. And that should be done in a way that is maximally
transparent," Horton said from Barcelona, Spain.

Horton suggested open balloting by members of the WHO's executive board
would go a long way to shifting the emphasis away from political
horse-trading and onto a debate about which candidate is best equipped
to serve as the world's public health ambassador.

"There should not be secret ballots. Every member of the executive board
who votes, it should be public knowledge who they have voted for."

The executive board is the body charged with nominating a single
candidate who will be ratified by the World Health Assembly in a special
meeting on Nov. 9. It will winnow down the candidates through a series
of secret ballots in meetings slated for Nov. 6-8.

The sudden death in May of former director general Dr. Lee Jong-wook
necessitated the search for a new WHO chief.

Candidates are nominated by their home countries, which have until end
of day Tuesday (Geneva time) to submit a name. The list will be
announced Wednesday and could include some candidates who have chosen to
fly under the radar in this pre-campaign stage.

Declared candidates include Dr. Margaret Chan (China), WHO's assistant
director general for communicable diseases and a graduate of the
University of Western Ontario's medical school; Dr. Shigeru Omi (Japan),
head of WHO's Western Pacific regional office; and Mexican Health
Minister Dr. Julio Frenk, who also served as a WHO executive director
under former director general Gro Harlem Brundtland.

Other include: Ecuadorian President Alfredo Palacio; Spain's Health
Minister Elena Salgado, Dr. Kazem Behbehani (Kuwait), WHO's assistant
director general external relations and governing bodies; David
Gunnarsson, permanent secretary of Iceland's health and social security
ministry and a former executive board member; Dr. Pekka Puska (Finland),
a former WHO official and current director general of the Finnish
National Public Health Institute and Dr. Tomris Turmen (Turkey), a
former executive director for family and community heath at the WHO.

WHO officials in the race have to step aside from their posts while
running.

Candidates are vying for the votes of the 34 members of the WHO
executive board, a body made up of countries representing one of six
regions: the Americas, Africa, Southeast Asia, Europe, the Eastern
Mediterranean and the Western Pacific. Seats on the executive board are
rotated among the countries in each regional grouping.

Canada is not expected to name a candidate and is not currently on the
executive board. But Canada and other countries not on the board can
still hold significant sway in the process, Horton said, if they choose
to actively campaign for a candidate.

On that issue, the federal government is currently holding its cards
close to the chest.

"We . . . have a strong interest in seeing that the best candidate is
selected for this important post," Erik Waddell, press secretary for
Health Minister Tony Clement, said in an e-mail exchange.

"Once all nominations are tabled, Canada will consider whether we might
wish to endorse a candidate."

Horton pointed to Frenk and Omi as frontrunners - the former for the
depth of his experience and the latter because of Japan's track record
of perseverance when it seeks to hold such high-level international
positions.

Within the WHO itself, Chan - the highly personable former public health
head from Hong Kong - is seen by some as a leading candidate.

Countries currently on the executive board are: Afghanistan, Australia,
Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bhutan, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Denmark, Djibouti,
El Salvador, Iraq, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Latvia, Lesotho, Liberia,
Libya, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Mali, Mexico, Namibia, Portugal, Romania,
Rwanda, Singapore, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Tonga, Thailand, Turkey and the
United States.