Thalif Deen
Inter Press Service English News Wire
01-21-1998
UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 20 (IPS) -- The World Health Organization
(WHO) urgently needs to be restructured and reformed, says Nafis
Sadik, head of the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), and among the
front runners for the top job at the organization.
'WHO is not seen as a leader in the field of health,' Sadik told
reporters at U.N. headquarters today. If elected, she said, she not
only will ensure that health is recognized as a development issue,
but also will re-establish the WHO's role in a changing environment
where many organizations are competing on health issues.
'WHO is very far, far from achieving its goals,' Sadik said,
adding that even its current health strategy is 'vague.'
The 32-member WHO Executive Board met in private session
yesterday to approve a short list of five candidates for the post
of Director-General at WHO to succeed the outgoing head, Hiroshi
Nakajima of Japan.
Besides Sadik, the Pakistani-born Executive Director of UNFPA,
other candidates are Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister
of Norway; George Alleyne of Barbados; Ebrahim Malick Samba of
Gambia, and Uton Rafei of Indonesia. All five are medical
physicians with strong credentials in public health.
Samba is WHO's regional director for Africa, Alleyne is director
of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) in Washington and
Rafei, heads the WHO's regional office for Southeast Asia, based
in New Delhi. Two other candidates featured in early speculation
to lead the WHO -- Arif Batayneh, a former Minister of Health for
Jordan -- and Fernando Antezana of Brazil quit the race in 1997.
Asked how she would stack up against her competitors, Sadik said
the absence of the Jordanian would be to her advantage because 'we
were both competing for the same votes... He comes from the same
region as Pakistan,' she said.
'I believe I have a reasonable chance' of being chosen, Sadik
said, but added she thought Brundtland 'probably has the best
chance.'
'My experience with the U.N. system gives me an advantage. I
know the system, and can go to WHO with all my knowledge running,
so to speak,' she said.
The Executive Board will meet again in private session Jan. 26
to interview each of the five candidates. Under new rules,
candidates will make a presentation before the Board and be
subjected to questioning.
On Jan. 27, the Board will assemble again to vote on their
choice. After the name of the successful candidate is announced,
it will go before the World Health Assembly, the governing body of
the WHO, for ratification in May 1998.
A September 1997 editorial in the Lancet, an influential British
medical magazine, said that many people inside and outside WHO saw
the impending change of leader as an opportunity to renew their
commitment to 'an organization that has lost much respect and
authority in recent years.'
'With such diverse multilateral involvement, there has never
been a more important moment for strong moral and technical
leadership in world health,' the Lancet said.
The British Medical Journal stated that changes in the world
since WHO was founded nearly 50 years ago had put enormous pressure
on WHO for greater change.
But the World Health Organization failed to meet these
challenges, primarily because of its 'narrow, top down,
service-oriented approach to health and its centralized,
hierarchical bureaucracy,' the journal opined.
'Much of this can be blamed on WHO's lack of leadership and
inadequate commitment from member states,' the magazine said. 'In
trying to please all its political constituents, WHO has spread
itself too thin and lost its direction.'
Following consultations in 1997 between a group of health
experts, NGOs and former U.N. officials, the Dag Hammarskjold
Foundation of Sweden released a study that spelled out in detail
the weaknesses of WHO and the need for reform.
The study recognized the accomplishments of WHO during the last
five decades, including the eradication of small pox and the
organization's successes in global health policy, epidemiological
information, health care standards and medical ethics.
'During the last decade, however, WHO has been openly criticized
and does not seem to have the necessary preparedness for the 21st
century with its new challenges,' the survey said. It added that
the question of reform is largely a question of political will
among the 190 WHO member states.
At a November 1997 international seminar on health held in Rome,
Evelyn Wong of the Penang-based Third World Network traced WHO's
failures mostly to mismanagement and inept leadership.
'We would like to see a new WHO with a vision and a commitment
for the new millennium,' she said. 'That is why the election of a
new director-general is so important to Third World nations,' she
added.
Wong pointed out that WHO's failings had prompted other U.N.
bodies to hijack its mandate. The U.N. Population Fund had taken
the leadership role in reproductive health; the U.N. Children's
Fund (UNICEF) in child health and breast feeding and the
International Labor Organization (ILO) led the way in occupational
health, she said.
Wong also predicted that human rights in the health field is
expected to be taken over by the U.N. High Commissioner for Human
Rights. 'So, what is left for WHO?' she asked.
Copyright 1998 IPS/GIN. The contents of this story can not be duplicated in any fashion without written permission of Global Information Network
Inter Press Service English News Wire
01-21-1998
UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 20 (IPS) -- The World Health Organization
(WHO) urgently needs to be restructured and reformed, says Nafis
Sadik, head of the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), and among the
front runners for the top job at the organization.
'WHO is not seen as a leader in the field of health,' Sadik told
reporters at U.N. headquarters today. If elected, she said, she not
only will ensure that health is recognized as a development issue,
but also will re-establish the WHO's role in a changing environment
where many organizations are competing on health issues.
'WHO is very far, far from achieving its goals,' Sadik said,
adding that even its current health strategy is 'vague.'
The 32-member WHO Executive Board met in private session
yesterday to approve a short list of five candidates for the post
of Director-General at WHO to succeed the outgoing head, Hiroshi
Nakajima of Japan.
Besides Sadik, the Pakistani-born Executive Director of UNFPA,
other candidates are Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister
of Norway; George Alleyne of Barbados; Ebrahim Malick Samba of
Gambia, and Uton Rafei of Indonesia. All five are medical
physicians with strong credentials in public health.
Samba is WHO's regional director for Africa, Alleyne is director
of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) in Washington and
Rafei, heads the WHO's regional office for Southeast Asia, based
in New Delhi. Two other candidates featured in early speculation
to lead the WHO -- Arif Batayneh, a former Minister of Health for
Jordan -- and Fernando Antezana of Brazil quit the race in 1997.
Asked how she would stack up against her competitors, Sadik said
the absence of the Jordanian would be to her advantage because 'we
were both competing for the same votes... He comes from the same
region as Pakistan,' she said.
'I believe I have a reasonable chance' of being chosen, Sadik
said, but added she thought Brundtland 'probably has the best
chance.'
'My experience with the U.N. system gives me an advantage. I
know the system, and can go to WHO with all my knowledge running,
so to speak,' she said.
The Executive Board will meet again in private session Jan. 26
to interview each of the five candidates. Under new rules,
candidates will make a presentation before the Board and be
subjected to questioning.
On Jan. 27, the Board will assemble again to vote on their
choice. After the name of the successful candidate is announced,
it will go before the World Health Assembly, the governing body of
the WHO, for ratification in May 1998.
A September 1997 editorial in the Lancet, an influential British
medical magazine, said that many people inside and outside WHO saw
the impending change of leader as an opportunity to renew their
commitment to 'an organization that has lost much respect and
authority in recent years.'
'With such diverse multilateral involvement, there has never
been a more important moment for strong moral and technical
leadership in world health,' the Lancet said.
The British Medical Journal stated that changes in the world
since WHO was founded nearly 50 years ago had put enormous pressure
on WHO for greater change.
But the World Health Organization failed to meet these
challenges, primarily because of its 'narrow, top down,
service-oriented approach to health and its centralized,
hierarchical bureaucracy,' the journal opined.
'Much of this can be blamed on WHO's lack of leadership and
inadequate commitment from member states,' the magazine said. 'In
trying to please all its political constituents, WHO has spread
itself too thin and lost its direction.'
Following consultations in 1997 between a group of health
experts, NGOs and former U.N. officials, the Dag Hammarskjold
Foundation of Sweden released a study that spelled out in detail
the weaknesses of WHO and the need for reform.
The study recognized the accomplishments of WHO during the last
five decades, including the eradication of small pox and the
organization's successes in global health policy, epidemiological
information, health care standards and medical ethics.
'During the last decade, however, WHO has been openly criticized
and does not seem to have the necessary preparedness for the 21st
century with its new challenges,' the survey said. It added that
the question of reform is largely a question of political will
among the 190 WHO member states.
At a November 1997 international seminar on health held in Rome,
Evelyn Wong of the Penang-based Third World Network traced WHO's
failures mostly to mismanagement and inept leadership.
'We would like to see a new WHO with a vision and a commitment
for the new millennium,' she said. 'That is why the election of a
new director-general is so important to Third World nations,' she
added.
Wong pointed out that WHO's failings had prompted other U.N.
bodies to hijack its mandate. The U.N. Population Fund had taken
the leadership role in reproductive health; the U.N. Children's
Fund (UNICEF) in child health and breast feeding and the
International Labor Organization (ILO) led the way in occupational
health, she said.
Wong also predicted that human rights in the health field is
expected to be taken over by the U.N. High Commissioner for Human
Rights. 'So, what is left for WHO?' she asked.
Copyright 1998 IPS/GIN. The contents of this story can not be duplicated in any fashion without written permission of Global Information Network
