Dr.Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, an Ethiopian former Minister of Health became the first African to be elected Director-General of the World Health Organization on May 23. This happened after been nominated by the Government of Ethiopia. He commenced his five-year term on 1 July after succeeding Dr Margaret Chan who had been in charge since January 1 2007.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Source: nydailynews

Dr Tedros won the tightly contested election by beating David Nabarro from the U.K and Sania Nishtar of Pakistan after winning a decisive third-round election and receiving more than half the votes in the first round. Dr Adhanom was largely expected to have received nothing less than 50 African votes.

Dr Tedros who also served as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ethiopia between  2012–2016 was Minister of Health, Ethiopia between 2005–2012. He also served as chair of the Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and as chair of the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership Board. He was also a co-chair on the Board of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health.

Dr Tedros recently completed a 3-day official visit to the People’s Republic of China between 19 and 21 August aiming to strengthen the bond between WHO and China.