Meeting in emergency session Tuesday, representatives from member countries of the World Health Organization (WHO) asked the UN agencys leaders to speed up the election of a new leader.
After Dr. Lee Jong Wook, its director general of three years, died unexpectedly on Monday, it became apparent that the agency did not have a swift way to choose a successor.
While there are rules that govern the incapacitation of a director general, they do not specify the possibility of death and the steps to be taken in that event, said Christine McNab, a spokeswoman for the agency.
The leaders were asked to come up with a list of options by next week.
Dr. Lee died of a stroke hours before he was to address representatives of the 192-member countries at their annual meeting, known as the World Health Assembly. The agency released a copy of his prepared remarks in which he addressed global health needs.
They included the need for a quicker and more effective response to the declining health of Palestinians and more money to complete the effort to eradicate polio. The agency is responsible for tracking influenza and other communicable diseases.
Dr. Lee was to continue his urging of governments to better prepare for the next pandemic of influenza and to control the A(H5N1) avian strain of the virus. As it has spread from Asia to Europe and Africa, the virus has led to the death of more than 200 million birds. Health experts are concerned that the bird virus could mutate to cause a human pandemic.
Dr. Lee also acknowledged the agency’ failures in meeting its goal of making antiretroviral therapy available to three million HIV-infected people by the end of 2005 and effectively tackling malaria. “Clearly things are not going well with malaria control, Dr. Lees text said.
The WHO has chosen Dr. Anders Nordström, a Swede and an assistant director, as interim director general.
According to one of the agencys rules, the names of candidates for director general must be submitted to a selected group of representatives, known as the executive board, at least six months before the board next meets to discuss such an election. In effect, the rule requires at least a six-month campaign period.
Membership on the board changes periodically and a new group is to take office next week.
At the executive boards meeting Tuesday, participants asked the agencys leadership to consider whether the rule could be waived or the executive board could start the nomination process soon so campaigning could begin in the next few weeks.
The new executive board is scheduled to hold its regular meeting in January 2007.
Among the options is whether the next campaign would be to fill the remainder of Dr. Lees five-year term, which was due to expire in July 2008, or whether the next election would begin a new five-year term.
Kilde: The Push Journal
