Geneva, 17 April The World Health Organization (WHO) today announced the appointment of five new heads of its sections at the highest level, including the new chief of scientists, the British Jeremy Farrar, director for 10 years of the humanitarian organization Wellcome Trust.
Farrar, who worked for 17 years in the fight against tropical diseases in Vietnam, will assume on May 8 a post occupied between 2019 and 2022 by the Indian Soumya Swaminathan, one of the most visible faces of the WHO during the covid-19 pandemic. .
Other appointments confirmed today include China’s Li Ailan as new Deputy Director General for Universal Health Coverage, and Japan’s Yukiko Nakatani as Deputy for Access to Medicines.
The Indian Razia Pendse will be the organization’s new chief of staff, and the Frenchman Jérôme Solomon will be the deputy director general in charge of universal health coverage in the area of communicable and non-communicable diseases. ECE
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