HK Margaret Chan to run for WHO chief (Xinhua) Updated: 2006-07-25 20:33
China announced Tuesday that it has decided to recommend Margaret Chan from
Hong Kong to run for Director-General of the World Health Organization
(WHO).
Chan currently serves as WHO Assistant Director-General for
Communicable Diseases. The election for new director-general will be in November
this year.
China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said Chan has profound
medical knowledge and rich experience in public health management and has
thorough understanding of WHO rules as well as challenges and opportunities for
the global health system.
"We believe Madam Margaret Chan would help the
organization play a more active role in the health sector on the world stage if
she were elected WHO Director-General."
Spokesman Liu said China has been
an active player in international cooperation on health.
"China attaches
great importance to the key role of the WHO and hopes to make greater
contributions to the development of world health affairs," he said.
A
resume posted on the WHO website said that Chan obtained her medical degree from
the University of Western Ontario in Canada. She joined the Hong Kong Department
of Health in 1978 and was appointed Director of Health in 1994, the first female
director of Hong Kong.
During her nine-year tenure as Hong Kong's health
director, Chan worked hard to build up the core competencies of Hong Kong in
public health, particularly, in the combat of emerging and re-emerging
communicable diseases.
In 2003, Chan joined the WHO and worked as WHO's
Director of the Department of Protection of the Human Environment.
In
June 2005, she was appointed Director of Communicable Diseases Surveillance and
Response as well as Representative of the Director-General for Pandemic
Influenza, a job that has put her on the front line in the struggle against bird
flu and severe acute respiratory syndrome.
The WHO Executive Board
decided in May on a November timetable for electing a new director-general for
the organization. The decision follows the sudden death of Dr LEE Jong-wook, WHO
Director-General, on 22 May. Lee was from the Republic of Korea.
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