New director general pledges expanded role for WHO. (Health).OTTAWA -- The 192 World Health Organization member countries elected Jong-Wook Lee as the new WHO director general. Lee, a South Korean will begin a five-year term July 21, succeeding Gro Harlem Brundtland Gro Harlem Brundtland (IPA: /gru hɑɭɛm brʉntlɑn/ , who has been director general since 1998. The WHO governing board nominated him for the post in January, and the member states elected him yesterday as part of the annual World Health Assembly in Geneva Geneva, canton and city, Switzerland Geneva (jənē`və), Fr. Genève, canton (1990 pop. 373,019), 109 sq mi (282 sq km), SW Switzerland, surrounding the southwest tip of the Lake of Geneva. . Lee promised an immediate expansion of who global disease outbreak response, saying that severe acute respiratory syndrome Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) Definition Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is the first emergent and highly transmissible viral disease to appear during the twenty-first century. "is the first new disease threat of the 21st century, but it will not be the last." The Assembly approved a resolution to allow WHO to intervene even when countries refuse to admit they are facing a health crisis, and to send teams to independently investigate whether national authorities are responding effectively. Despite initial opposition by the United States, the resolution was approved unanimously. He also stressed the importance of improving primary health care around the world and of focusing on measurable results. He identified five priority areas for his tenure at the head of the WHO: the Millennium Development Goals “MDG” redirects here. For other uses, see MDG (disambiguation). The Millennium Development Goals are eight goals that 192 United Nations member states have agreed to try to achieve by the year 2015. , using WHO resources more effectively, making the who administration more efficient, making the WHO more accountable and bolstering human resources within the WHO and in member countries. Lee pledged to achieve the goal of providing antiretroviral drugs Antiretroviral Drugs Definition Antiretroviral drugs inhibit the reproduction of retroviruses—viruses composed of RNA rather than DNA. The best known of this group is HIV, human immunodeficiency virus, the causative agent of AIDS. to 3 million people with HIV HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), either of two closely related retroviruses that invade T-helper lymphocytes and are responsible for AIDS. There are two types of HIV: HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is responsible for the vast majority of AIDS in the United States. in poor countries by 2005. Fewer than 300,000 people with HIV in poor countries now get treatment, and two-thirds of those who get treatment are in Latin America. "As treatment is rolled out, HIV prevention efforts must also intensify. We will use the delivery of HIV/AIDS HIV/AIDS Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome services as a way to build up health systems," said Lee, who has hired the head of Brazil's national reV/AIDS program, Paulo Teixeira, to draw up a WHO HIV/AIDS plan. Teixeira is the man who challenged the internation drug giants by setting up facilities to produce the drugs, locally at much lower cost. The pharmacy companies withdrew their threats of sanction are now providing drugs in Brazil at lower than international prices. |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion