On Tuesday 23 May 2017, during the 70th World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, a candidate from Ethiopia, was elected as the new Director –General of the World Health Organization (WHO). He will succeed Dr. Margaret Chan, the current WHO Director –General.

          During his acceptance speech, Dr. Tedros expressed his appreciation for the transparency and inclusiveness of the election. He said that during his campaign, he took note of the challenges that each member of the WHO faced and by listening to their ideas, he was able to recognize three main challenges for the WHO: (1) building efficient partnerships (2) ensuring WHO responds rapidly and effectively to disease outbreaks and emergencies and (3) putting the well-being of women, children and adolescents at the center of global health and development. To this end, he vowed that an action plan will be drafted to determine how to efficiently allocate resources and will hopefully support the WHO in forming productive partnerships with all its members, taking into account that issues concerning world health cannot be tackled only by just one agency.

          Thailand congratulates WHO on electing its first Director – General from the African region, and will continue to work closely with WHO towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) No. 3 on good health and well-being, to ensure healthy lives, and to promote well-being for all at all ages.