Candidates From China, Japan Top Shortlist for WHO Director
GENEVA -- The World Health Organization chose five finalists to fill its top post, led by two experts in emerging infectious diseases and Mexico's health minister, an advocate for providing health coverage to the poor.
The choices reflect growing interest in having WHO assert more leadership in some of the world's biggest public-health challenges, including the battle against pandemic flu and improving health-care delivery in developing countries.
The shortlist for director-general emerged from five rounds of voting by the United Nations health agency's 34-member executive board. The board will vote again tomorrow to pick the new director-general.
Margaret Chan, WHO's top communicable-diseases official and a former Hong Kong health director, got more votes in every round of balloting yesterday than any of the other 10 candidates, according to people close to the executive board. Shigeru Omi of Japan, WHO regional director for the western Pacific, consistently placed second, followed by Julio Frenk of Mexico.
Drs. Chan and Omi have been on leave from their WHO posts while pursuing the agency's top job, to succeed South Korea's Lee Jong Wook, who died in May.
Also still in the running for one of the world's most powerful public-health posts were Kazem Behbehani, a Kuwaiti who is a top WHO external-relations official, and Elena Salgado, Spain's health minister. Both those selections were seen as surprising and may reflect the international politics and horse-trading that goes on behind closed doors during the election process. Ms. Salgado is admired for her strong managerial skill, but had little health-related experience before becoming health minister in 2004.
Among those who had been considered strong candidates but didn't make the cut yesterday were Pascoal Manuel Mocumbi, a former prime minister of Mozambique, and Pekka Puska, director-general of Finland's National Public Health Institute and a noted expert in interventions to lower chronic-disease rates. The candidates receiving the fewest votes in each round by the WHO executive board were eliminated from further consideration.
The five remaining candidates will be interviewed by the board today. They are expected to face tough questions about how they would forge a global strategy for health threats such as AIDS, pandemic flu, tuberculosis and heart disease.
Drs. Chan and Omi have been leading contenders, partly because of their experience in the battle against severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, and the earliest outbreaks of avian flu. Dr. Chan also stands out because she was nominated by China, where SARS first erupted and which has been slow at times to disclose health threats. China's support of Dr. Chan is seen as unusual because the five permanent-member countries of the U.N.'s Security Council traditionally haven't backed candidates for the job, though no rule prevents them from doing so.
Support for Dr. Frenk, Mexico's health minister since 2000, suggests that his candidacy hasn't been hurt by a deal made two years ago with some tobacco companies to help fund health overhauls in Mexico. Under the program he launched, 22 million of Mexico's poorest citizens are expected to receive health-insurance coverage by the end of this year.
WHO总干事选举中、日候选人领先
世界卫生组织(World Health Organization)总干事选举已有五人最终入围，两位新发感染病方面的专家和宣传向贫穷国家提供医疗保障的墨西哥卫生部长得票领先。
这个结果显示出对WHO在全球一些最重大的公共卫生挑战方面发挥领导作用的期待。这些挑战包括应对流感疫情和改善发展中国家的医疗卫生状况。
WHO总干事人选的入围名单是经过34个执委会成员国5轮投票后产生的。执委会成员国将在周三再次投票选出这个联合国(United Nations)卫生机构的新一任总干事。
据知情人士透露，WHO流行病高级官员、前香港卫生署署长陈冯富珍(Margaret Chan)在周一的几轮投票中的得票高于其他10位候选人。WHO西太平洋地区主任、日本的尾身茂(Shigeru Omi)一直排在第二位，排在第三位的是墨西哥卫生部长胡里奥?弗伦克(Julio Frenk)。
陈冯富珍和尾身茂都已向WHO请假，全力参加总干事的竞选，以接任今年5月去世的前总干事、韩国人李钟郁(Lee Jong Wook)。
竞选这个全球权力最大的公共卫生职位之一的人选还包括WHO外部关系高级官员、科威特的卡齐姆?巴哈巴哈尼(Kazem Behbehani)和西班牙卫生大臣埃莱娜?萨尔加多(Elena Salgado)。这两个人选有些出乎人们意料，可能反映出选举进程幕后的国际政治角力和讨价还价。萨尔加多因其出色的管理能力受到赞誉，但在2004年担任卫生大臣前没有多少同卫生相关的经验。
曾被公认为颇具实力、但在周一出局的候选人包括莫桑比克前总理帕斯科亚尔?曼努埃尔?莫昆比(Pascoal Manuel Mocumbi)和芬兰国立公共卫生研究院(National Public Health Institute)院长佩卡?普什卡(Pekka Puska)。后者是降低慢性病发病率方面的知名专家。
这5位候选人周二将接受执委会的面试。预计他们将面对一系列尖锐的问题，如如何制定应对艾滋病、流感、肺结核和心脏病的全球战略。
陈冯富珍和尾身茂的得票从一开始就居于领先位置，原因之一是他们在防治非典型肺炎(SARS)和禽流感疫情一线的经验。陈冯富珍之所以突出还在于她由中国提名。非典型肺炎最先在中国爆发，政府也曾在披露疫情方面反应迟缓。中国支持陈冯富珍被视为非同寻常之举，因为传统上联合国的5个常任理事国不会公开支持参选人员，但也没有任何规定禁止这样做。
2000年以来担任墨西哥卫生部长的弗伦克获得的支持表明，他的竞选没有受到两年前同部分烟草公司达成交易以筹集墨西哥卫生改革所需资金的影响。根据他当时推出的计划，墨西哥的2,200万最贫穷人口预计将在今年年底前获得医疗保险保障。
弗伦克在竞选总干事时表示，将严格执行WHO制定的烟草控制条约。他说，他已经制定了西半球最为严格的一个烟草法规。
Betsy McKay
