Chinese bird flu expert Margaret Chan took over as head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Thursday, promising to put Africa and women at the top of her agenda.
Chan, the first Chinese to head a United Nations’ agency, was chosen as director general of the 192-state world health body last November in an election prompted by the death in office of her predecessor, Lee Jong-wook of South Korea.
”I want my leadership to be judged by the impact of our work on the health of two populations: women and the people of Africa,” Chan, former Hong Kong health chief, told WHO staff in a speech on taking up her post.
Women were particularly vulnerable to health problems because of the risks they face during pregnancy and childbirth and their low status in some countries, she said.
Africa was not only being ravaged by three big killers — Aids, malaria and tuberculosis — but chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease were taking a rising toll.
About 3 000 children were dying each day from malaria in Africa despite the fact the world had the medicines to fight the disease, Chan said.
”This is not acceptable. We need to understand why we are not making progress,” she told journalists.
Chan (59), most recently the WHO’s assistant director general for communicable diseases, has argued that the world needs to reinforce surveillance to ensure that new killer diseases, which she said would continue to emerge, were quickly detected.
The profile of the WHO, which has a two-year budget of $3,3-billion, has risen with the spread of Aids and other diseases, and the emergence of new threats such as the respiratory illness Sars and bird flu.
Bird flu, which has ravaged poultry populations in South-east Asia, remains mostly an animal disease.
It has killed more than 150 people since late 2003 and experts fear that if it becomes more easily passed between humans it could trigger a pandemic in which millions could die.
”The next pandemic, if it occurs, will be devastating. We cannot let down our guard,” Chan told her first news conference on taking up her post.
Chan has vowed to speak out if countries, including China, fail to strengthen surveillance against bird flu and other infectious diseases, or prove reluctant to share the virus samples needed to help develop vaccines. — Reuters