The World Health Organization’s (WHO) has re-elected Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as the Director-General for a second five-year term. The result of the secret vote was a formality since he was the only candidate.
Opening the 75th World Health Assembly in Geneva, Dr Tedros, who has led the global response to the Covid pandemic, said coronavirus had turned the World upside down, leaving many still enduring suffering.
He also called for an end to war, by recalling his own first-hand experience as a child of war in Ethiopia, which is again experiencing civil conflict in its northern Tigray region, where he is originally from.
BBC reports that the 57-year-old has been at odds with Ethiopia’s government after it accused him of supporting forces from Tigray, an accusation he has previously denied.
He had been Ethiopia’s Health Minister during which he received praises for his efforts in controlling diseases like malaria and HIV/Aids and a foreign minister before he was first elected to lead the WHO in 2017.
