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New WHO Director-General Margaret Chan is welcomed by outgoing WHO Acting Director-General Anders Nordstroem on her first day in office at the World Health Organization's headquarters in Geneva yesterday. [Reuters]

GENEVA: Dr Margaret Chan took charge of the World Health Organization yesterday, the most prominent UN post ever held by a Chinese national, saying she wanted to be judged on how well the agency tackles the problems of women and Africans.

"I want my leadership to be judged by the impact of our work on the health of two populations: women and the people of Africa," Chan said.

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Women were particularly vulnerable to health problems because of the risks they face during pregnancy and childbirth and their low status in some countries, Chan said in a speech to WHO staff.

Africa was not only being ravaged by three big killers AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis but chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease were taking a rising toll.

Chan told WHO staff that she did not foresee a major restructuring of the agency, but that she would be looking for ways to improve cooperation among different parts of the organization.

"I will stick with my promise: Reform, yes. Upheaval, no," she said.

Chan defeated a field of 12 other candidates to become director-general in a vote by WHO member countries in November to fill the post vacated by the death in May of Dr Lee Jong-wook. Her term will run until June 30, 2012.

Chan gained international attention in 1997 when she led Hong Kong's public health department in confronting the world's first known human outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu virus. Her swift reaction, ordering the slaughter of the special administrative region's entire poultry population about 1.5 million birds in just three days was applauded and is said to have prevented a major human health crisis.

Starting in 2005, she spearheaded WHO's efforts to coordinate a global response to prepared for a possible flu pandemic should the bird flu virus mutate into a strain easily transmitted among humans.

Chan, a 59-year-old Hong Kong native, takes over an agency that has become increasingly important as the world steps up efforts to battle polio, tuberculosis, malaria, AIDS and emerging diseases.

The agency has a two-year budget of $3.3 billion.

Agencies

(China Daily 01/05/2007 page1)