The second five-year term of World Health Organization Chief Tedros has been Reappointed

Photo Source: By ITU Pictures from Geneva, Switzerland

United Nations member countries re-elected WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Tuesday for a second five-year term.

Former Ethiopian minister Tedros has led the WHO through its management of the global response to COVID19 and has endured criticism for the organization's multiple blunders. His appointment as director-general marks the first time an African has assumed this position and the only time he is not a medical doctor.

Under Tedros, the U.N. health agency failed to call out countries including China for blunders that WHO officials grumbled about privately, advised against mask-wearing for months, and said initially that the coronavirus wasn’t likely to mutate rapidly.

Furthermore, Tedros is the first WHO leader to not receive support from their home country; Ethiopia has criticized Tedros and raised concerns about his leadership after he harshly criticized the war and humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia.

25 May 2022