WHO chief to be confirmed for second term

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is expected to be confirmed by the U.N. health agency’s member countries for a second five-year term on Tuesday.

No other candidate challenged Tedros for the post amid the ongoing difficulties of responding to the devastating coronavirus pandemic.

Tedros, a former government minister from Ethiopia, has directed the World Health Organisation throughout its management of the global response to Covid-19 and withstood occasionally withering criticism over its multiple missteps.

He is the first African to lead the agency and the only director-general not qualified as a medical doctor.

Under Tedros, the U.N. health agency failed to call out countries including China for blunders that WHO officials grumbled about privately, advised against mask-wearing for months, and said initially that the coronavirus wasn’t likely to mutate rapidly.

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