Chan reappointed WHO chief

Dr Margaret Chan was on Tuesday reappointed to a new term at the helm of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and she declared her commitment to improving the health of women and the people of Africa, as she pursues other priorities, such as enhancing health systems and combating non-communicable diseases. “My overarching commitment to improve the health of women and the people of Africa will continue, sharpened by recent experiences,” said Ms Chan, in her acceptance speech after the World Health Assembly, WHO’s decision-making body, appointed her to a second five-year terms as the agency’s Director-General. The Assembly is attended by delegations from all WHO Member States. Every Woman, Every Child“I will be fully supporting Every Woman, Every Child as well as a growing number of initiatives to improve health in Africa. As part of my commitment to women, I will be giving more emphasis to the prevention of domestic violence,” said Ms. Chan. ‘Every Woman, Every Child’ is an initiative of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in support of efforts to achieve the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Ms Chan identified her other priorities as mental health and disabilities; health security; health development for poverty reduction; access to medical products, and improving WHO performance through reform. She also underlined the importance of universal health coverage, describing it as the single most powerful concept in public health. “Universal coverage is the hallmark of a government’s commitment, its duty, to take care of its citizens, all of its citizens,” said Ms Chan. “Universal coverage is the umbrella concept that demands solutions to the biggest problems facing health systems.” She cited the following as some of the problems faced by health systems: soaring costs amid poor access to essential medicines, especially affordable generic products; an emphasis on cures that does not take prevention into consideration; costly private care for the privileged few, but poor services for everyone else; grossly inadequate numbers of staff; weak or inappropriate information systems; and weak regulatory control and schemes for financing that are punitive for the poor. Ms Chan, a citizen of China, was first appointed WHO Director-General in November 2006. Her second term will begin on 1 July. Her reappointment coincides with a highly disturbing report about the proliferation of malaria drugs on the market, which puts millions of lives at risk. A study by the Fogarty International Centre at the US National Institute of Health in Bethsada, Maryland states that more than a third of malaria drugs analysed by scientists in Africa were below standards.Falsify drugsIt would appear that the economic incentives for criminal to falsify drugs surpass the risks involved. Without regulation and enforcement mechanism much of the sterling work being done by institution such as the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) in searching for a cheaper cure for malaria and a vaccine against the killer disease will have been in vain.Ms Chan had made the eradication of counterfeits drugs one of the key objectives of her first term.