The head of the WHO, the Ethiopian Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, launches on Tuesday January 25 alone in the race for his succession, with the challenge of strengthening an organization whose shortcomings have been revealed by the pandemic.
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During a vote by secret ballot in a private meeting, the members of the Executive Board of the World Health Organization will have to validate his candidacy, after hearing him. His re-election in May by the member states of the organization is not in doubt. Dr Tedros, who succeeded the Chinese Margaret Chan in 2017, is highly appreciated, particularly by Africans who see him as a
"friend of Africa"
who has allowed the international community to look on, particularly on the pandemic, is turning more towards this continent.
The only recent shadow on the board: Ethiopia, which in mid-January denounced his comments on the humanitarian situation in the war-torn region of Tigray, where he is from.
Ethiopia has asked the WHO to open an investigation for "forfeiture" against it, but its request is not supported by other countries.
"Certainly he expressed himself forcefully, but what he said corresponds to facts that all the directors of humanitarian agencies note"
, affirmed to AFP a Western diplomatic source, stressing that
"he there was no slippage”
.
“The Ethiopian government has been seeking from the start to prevent Dr Tedros from being WHO director-general again.
They started by trying to block the affair at the African Union by refusing that its candidacy be presented by Africa”
, added this source.
His candidacy is supported by 28 Member States of the WHO, including France and many other countries of the European Union, but also a small number of African countries, including Kenya and Rwanda.
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The 56-year-old malaria specialist is a graduate in immunology, a doctor in community health and a former minister of health and head of diplomacy in Ethiopia.
The first African to lead the WHO, Doctor Tedros, as he likes to call himself, has been on the front line since the start of the pandemic.
The arrival of Democrat Joe Biden in the White House, which brought the United States back into the fold of the WHO, gave him a second wind, while he was constantly attacked by former American President Donald Trump (2017-2021), who had cut off supplies to the organization, accused of being too close to China and of mismanaging the pandemic.
Failures
The more critical tone of Dr. Tedros towards China, which he considers not to be transparent enough on the origin of the pandemic, has earned him some reprimands from Beijing, which however supports its renewal.
He has also been the subject of public recriminations from several dozen member states, including those who supported his candidacy, frustrated by his handling of the scandal of sexual violence inflicted by employees of his organization - among other humanitarian workers - in the Democratic Republic of Congo during the fight against the Ebola epidemic between 2018 and 2020.
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The pandemic has also shown that his calls often go unheeded, such as when he calls on the better-off countries to do much more to reduce the inequity of the fight against Covid-19 or to introduce moratoriums on vaccine recalls. .
After a first mandate marked by the Covid, which exposed the shortcomings of the WHO, Dr Tedros will have to win the challenge of strengthening the UN agency.
Many capitals are calling for a strengthening of the global public health architecture to better coordinate the response to global health crises and prevent future outbreaks.
But the contours of the reform have yet to be defined by the countries, some of which, concerned about their sovereignty, have little desire to give more power to the WHO.
Dr. Tedros is also calling for sweeping reform of the organization's underfunded funding model.