Dr. Tedros, Director-General, World Health Organization

Interview

DR. GARRY ASLANYAN, WHO, DEPUTY EDITOR

 

UN Special was privileged to have the opportunity to interview WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus for this issue.

 

Thank you allowing to come back to you a year after the May 2018 issue of the magazine where you outlined your plans and hopes for the organization. A year after, what are the major achievements and what are the remaining challenges?
There are many achievements. Most importantly, our new five-year strategic plan – the General Programme of Work – anchors our work in the Sustainable Development Goals and was approved by the World Health Assembly. At its heart are three ambitious targets: 1 billion more people benefit ing from universal health coverage; 1 billion more people better protected from health emergencies; and 1 billion more people enjoying better health and well-being.

We’ve already made real progress in the last year. Several countries, including Kenya, India, the Philippines and South Africa, made important strides towards universal health coverage. We launched major new initiatives against cervical cancer, malaria and tuberculosis. And we held the first global conference on air pollution and health.

We responded to 66 emergencies in 49 countries, including two Ebola outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the largest ever Yellow Fever outbreak in Brazil, as well as ongoing humanitarian crises in Yemen, Syria and Bangladesh.

We launched WHO’s first investment case last year; it estimates that if the world achieves the “triple billion” targets, we can prevent 30 million premature deaths and add 2-4 percent of economic growth in low-income countries by 2023.

To support countries, we recognize that the world needs a more modern and agile WHO. As soon as the Assembly adopted our new strategy we embarked on a radical redesign of all major process. By 6 March we announced the most comprehensive, far-reaching set of reforms in WHO’s history. Our new structure is designed to break down silos and enable us to work in a much more integrated and timely way, both vertically across our headquarters, regional offices and country offices and horizontally within offices.

Now we have to maintain momentum as we implement the transformation agenda while driving progress on the targets.