Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is the only nominee to head the World Health Organization, a possible nod from countries on their approval of his pandemic leadership.
Credit: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization , is all but ensured to lead the organization for a second term, from 2022 to 2027, because he is the only candidate in the race. As a matter of procedure, on 25 January, the WHO’s executive board is expected to nominate him for re-election in May.
The probable extension of his leadership occurs against the backdrop of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, as the health agency continues to advise countries on how to curb the coronavirus’s devastation.This isn’t the first time a WHO director-general has run for a second term unopposed. Typically, however, several countries propose candidates in the year before an election.
“It is my government’s deep belief that Dr. Tedros, the current Director-General of the WHO, is ideally placed to continue,” wrote Kenya’s cabinet secretary Mutahi KagweChina, the United States and about 160 other countries did not nominate anyone. This could be a modest vote of confidence in Tedros, an acknowledgement that a competitor would not prevail, or a matter of pandemic practicality, global-health researchers tell.