New Director-General takes over at WHO

World Health • SlstYeor, No. 4, July-August 1998 3 New Director-General takes over at WHO Dr Gro Hor/em Brundtland, the newly elected fifth Oirector-Generol of WHO. Photo WHO/ H Anenden Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland's nomination to the post of Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) was confirmed by the Member States during the Slst World Health Assembly which met in Geneva in May, and she began her five-year term of office on 21 July. A medical doctor and Master of Public Health, Dr Brundtland held public office in Norway for 20 years, including ten years as Prime Mini ster. In 1983, the then Secretary-General of the United Nations invited her to establish and chair the World Commission on Environment and Development; that Commission 's findings were pub- lished in 1987 in the form of a book entitled Our common future. Its recommendations subsequently led to the Earth Summit - the UN For the first time, WHO is headed by a woman. Aged 5 9, married, a mother of four and grandmother of seven, Dr Gro Harlem Brundtlond took office as Director-General of the Organization on 21 July 1998. Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) - held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. In her speech of acceptance after taking the oath of office at the World Health Assembly on 13 May 1998, Dr Brundtland referred to the com- plex processes of transition with which WHO must cope, and com- mented: "The transition from one century to another sees changes which will be faster and more dra- matic from an economic, social and health perspective." She warned the delegates: "WHO can and must change. It must become more effec- tive, more accountable, more trans- parent and more receptive to a changing world." The burden of disease is the burden of unfulfilled human devel- opment, she went on, and announced among the first projects to be tackled by WHO a drive to "Roll Back Malaria" by developing a new health-sector-wide approach to combat the disease at global, regional and country levels. Her second emphasis will be "to address a major cause of premature death which is dramatically increasing, killing four million people this year and - if we let it go on without action - ten million people in the year 2030 .... I refer to tobacco. I am a doctor. I believe in science and evidence. Let me state here today: tobacco is a killer." The new Director-General plans to increase the number of women employed by WHO. Among her other declared intentions for WHO are: to help to monitor, roll back and where possible eradicate communi- cable diseases; to fight to reduce the burden of noncommunicable dis- eases; to help countries to build sustainable health systems; and to speak out for health and back the case for health actions with solid evidence. The outgoing Director-General , Dr Hiroshi Nakajima, appointed in 1988 and who served two terms of office, offered his good wishes to Dr Brundtland during the Assembly, and said: "Her gifts, her experience and her convictions will be of im- mense value to her and to WHO in the fulfilment of her task. I know that the Organization will be in good hands." On her first day in office, Dr Brundtland addressed WHO staff, representatives of the UN missions in Geneva and the media. She outlined WHO's future policy and presented the new senior management team, including nine executive directors from around the world - five women and four men, most of whom have been called upon to serve WHO for the first time. The new Director-General ex- pressed her "great expectation and excitement" and her belief in the immense potential of WHO. She said: "We can make a difference. We can build healthy communities and populations. We can combat ill-health. We can do our part to combat poverty and suffering. Nothing in life - as I see it - has more meaning." •