Seven In Race To Head Who
The World Health Organisation ended its annual assembly yesterday with seven candidates in the race to succeed Dr Hiroshi Nakajima of Japan as director-general next year.
Front-runners at this stage are said to be Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway, and Dr Nafis Sadik of Pakistan, head of the United Nations Population Fund.
The other candidates are Sir George Alleyne of Barbados, director of the WHOs regional office for the Americas; Dr Fernando Antezana Aranibar of Bolivia, a WHO deputy director general; Dr Arif Bataineh, former Jordanian health minister; Dr Uton Muchtar Rafei of Indonesia, regional director for south-east Asia, and Dr Ebrahim Samba, regional director for Africa (from Gambia).
Formal nominations open in July. The final selection will be made by the WHOs 31-member executive board next January for approval by the World Health Assembly in May next year.
Donna Shalala, US health secretary, said last week that Washington had not taken a position on any of the candidates in a very strong field and was concentrating on the reforms it wants the new director-general to pursue.
Dr Nakajimas two terms in office have been marred by persistent criticism from the US and other western governments of his management performance and leadership.
Washington failed at this years assembly to push through a 5 per cent budget cut for 1998-99, securing only an accord to keep the regular budget at the present $842.7 million for the two years rather than the $846.1m proposed by Dr Nakajima.
The US expects to see its own contribution fall substantially next year, because of a general review of country assessments now under way at the UN in New York.
Washington at present pays 25 per cent of the regular budget of the UN and the main specialised agencies, a share it hopes to reduce to 20 per cent for the coming two years.
At its final session, the World Health Assembly is due to adopt a series of resolutions, including one condemning the possible cloning of humans as ethically unacceptable.
Another resolution adopted on Monday asks the WHO to monitor and make recommendations on the rapid growth of medicine sales through the Internet. Many fear the practice could put consumers at risk through uncontrolled distribution of prescription medicines. Copyright Financial Times Limited 1997.