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Agence France-Presse

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is the sole candidate for the WHO leadership when his current term expires, the UN body announced on Friday.
The 56-year-old Ethiopian former health and foreign minister has been at the forefront of the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic as the head of the WHO.
Elected to the WHO leadership in 2017, his mandate runs out in August next year.
Tedros secured the backing of 28 countries, including France, Germany, Indonesia, the Netherlands and Spain, the WHO said.
Coronavirus pandemic ‘a long way from over’, WHO chief says
The deadline for nominations passed on September 23. Countries submitted a sealed envelope to the Geneva-based WHO, which did not open them before October 1.
In 2017, Tedros became the first African national to head the powerful UN agency.
He has been the public face of the WHO since the start of the Covid-19 crisis, and is relatively popular due to his role in steering the organisation’s efforts to coordinate the pandemic response.
But his candidacy became complicated after Ethiopia allegedly withdrew its support over the conflict in his home region of Tigray.


Candidates for the UN health body’s top slot are generally nominated by their home countries.
Tedros drew the ire of the Addis Ababa government by using the WHO platform to condemn the crackdown in Tigray.
Member states will formally vote for the next head of WHO in a secret ballot in May during the World Health Assembly, the organisation’s main annual meeting of member states.


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WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Photo: AP

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An Ethiopian man who fled war in Tigray region, sleeps under a tree at the Um-Rakoba camp on the Sudan-Ethiopia border in Al-Qadarif state, Sudan November 19, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization. File photo: AP

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Tedros, who led the global response to Covid-19, secured the backing of 28 countries
Member states will formally vote for the next head of WHO in May 2022



Tedros, who led the global response to Covid-19, secured the backing of 28 countries.


Coronavirus pandemic

Coronavirus pandemic: All stories

WHO chief Tedros runs unopposed for second term

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} Tedros, who led the global response to Covid-19, secured the backing of 28 countries Member states will formally vote for the next head of WHO in May 2022

Tedros, who led the global response to Covid-19, secured the backing of 28 countries

Member states will formally vote for the next head of WHO in May 2022