GENEVA: Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has gained wide support for a second term as head of the World Health Organisation, formally nominated by at least 17 European Union members and backed by countries in other regions.
As the deadline for nominations elapsed on Thursdaty, diplomats said that they were unaware of any other names being put forward, suggesting that Tedros will stand unopposed in the May election.
Germany announced on Wednesday that it was proposing Tedros, who appears to be the only candidate in the running. Other EU nations followed Berlin’s lead. Each country, among them Austria, France, Portugal and Spain, submitted a sealed envelope to the Geneva-based WHO.
The organisation will not open the envelopes before October 1. Then, a few weeks later, the list of candidates will be sent to the WHO’s 194 member states, before being made public.
Tedros, a former health and foreign minister of Ethiopia, elected as WHO’s first African director-general in May 20, and led the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. He has steered the UN agency through attacks on its handling of the crisis sparked by a new coronavirus that originated in China and has killed 4.9 million people.
While the Trump administration accused Tedros of being “China-centric”, relations warmed with the Biden administration, especially after Tedros publicly said that further investigations were needed into the origins of the virus, including audits of China’s laboratories.
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.
He was shunned by his home country Ethiopia due to friction over the Tigray conflict, making it necessary for other countries to step into the breach and submit his name for a second five-year term.
Tedros is relatively popular due to his role in steering the WHO’s efforts to coordinate the tumultuous global pandemic response. African countries broadly support Tedros who has championed their access to vaccines, but have not wanted to break ranks with Ethiopia. The United States has not opposed his fresh term.
