| | ArabMedicare.com News
New York | 23 May, 2006
photo copyright:
WHO/P.Virot
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Head of UN World Health Organization,
Lee Jong Wook, dies aged 61
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Dr. Lee Jong-wook, Director-General
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(ArabMedicare.com News) Lee
Jong-wook, Director-General of the United Nations World Health
Organization (WHO), who made the fight against HIV/AIDS a hallmark
of his tenure and led global preparations for a possible human bird
flu pandemic, died today after a short illness, aged 61.
"The world has lost a great man today," Secretary-General
Kofi Annan said in a tribute to the Republic of Korea expert, who
throughout his 23-year career at WHO made a difference in every
program he managed, whether leading the charge to eradicate polio
from the Western Pacific, or launching a cutting edge Global Drug
Facility so that people would have access to tuberculosis medicines.
"Lee Jong-wook was a man of conviction and passion. He was a
strong voice for the right of every man, woman and child to health
prevention and care, and advocated on behalf of the very poorest
people," Mr. Annan added. "He tackled the most difficult
problems head on, while upholding the highest principles. He will be
very gravely missed, but history will mark Lee Jong-wook's many
contributions to public health."
Dr. Lee, who became Director-General of the 192-member WHO in July
2003 in succession to former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem
Brundtland, had been in hospital in Geneva since Saturday afternoon,
where he underwent surgery to remove a blood clot on his brain. He
remained in intensive care and declared dead at 7.43 a.m. this
morning. Dr Anders Nordström, currently Assistant Director-General
for General Management, will serve as Acting Director-General.
"The sudden loss of our leader, colleague and friend, is
devastating," the agency said in a statement.
In his tribute Mr. Annan recalled that he spoke with Dr. Lee just a
few days ago. "Our conversation touched upon WHO's long-running
efforts to tackle the global challenge of HIV/AIDS - an area that he
was particularly committed to - as well as the Roll Back Malaria
campaign," he said.
"He was at the forefront of the global fight to prevent an
avian flu pandemic, and was a champion as well in the battle against
a host of other public health threats from HIV/AIDS to
tuberculosis."
While personally a modest man, Dr. Lee was a bold leader. When he
became Director-General, he took a risk and announced that WHO would
work with partners to achieve "3 by 5" - to ensure 3
million people with HIV/AIDS would have access to the medicines they
needed by the end of 2005.
The program transformed the way leaders thought about AIDS medicines
for people in poor countries and while the world fell short of the
target, the successes and momentum of "3 by 5"
demonstrated that universal access to medicines was possible - and
had become a moral imperative.
A few days before his death, Dr Lee explained his vision of
"universal access" to staff in his office as he worked on
his speech to the World Health Assembly beginning in Geneva today.
"There can be no 'comfort level' in the fight against
HIV," he said. "We must keep up the pressure to get
prevention, treatment and care linked and working. A key outcome of
"3 by 5" was the commitment to universal access to
treatment by 2010.
"But what does universal access mean? To me, this means that no
one should die because they can't get drugs. It means that no one
will miss being tested, diagnosed, treated and cared for because
there aren't clinics."
As WHO Director-General, he led global efforts to tackle avian
influenza and to prepare for a human influenza pandemic. Pointing to
the health, social and economic devastation of historical influenza
pandemics, he stressed repeatedly that every head of state should
ensure their country developed a national pandemic preparation plan.
He personally met with many heads of state, including United States
President George Bush, President Jacques Chirac of France, and
President Hu Jintao of China.
Underscoring the recognition of his role, Dr. Lee was invited by
Russian President Vladimir Putin to speak at the G8 Summit of top
industrial countries in July in St. Petersburg, where the fight
against infectious disease is one of three major items on the
agenda.
Survived by his wife and son, two brothers and a sister, and their
families, Dr. Lee who had very wide-ranging intellectual interests
and in his spare moments, enjoyed classical music, the theatre,
reading Shakespeare, and other great literature.
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