WHO: Candidates Lining Up To Replace Brundtland Next Year --------------------------------------------------------- Source - UN Wire: http://www.unfoundation.org/unwire/util/display_stories.asp?objid=29113 Joint U.N. Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Executive Director Peter Piot of Belgium is one of the leading candidates to head the World Health Organization when Director General Gro Harlem Brundtland steps down in July, the Belgian daily De Standaard reported Saturday (De Stan- daard, Sept. 21, UN Wire translation). Piot joins a growing list of candidates to succeed Brundtland, who last month announced her intention not to seek another term. The for- mer Norwegian prime minister, head of the WHO since 1998, cited her age as the main reason for not seeking another five years at the helm of the U.N. agency (WHO release, Aug. 23: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/releases/who65/en/print.html ). Piot, a longtime HIV/AIDS researcher and a co-discoverer of the Ebola virus in 1976, formerly served as assistant director of the WHO's AIDS program. He has headed UNAIDS since its creation in 1995 (UNAIDS Web site). Medecins sans Frontieres co-founder Bernard Kouchner, a former French health minister and U.N. Mission in Kosovo head, said last week that he is "very interested" in the top position at the WHO (Agence France-Presse, Sept. 15, UN Wire translation). Mozambican Prime Minister Pascoal Mocumbi also announced his interest last week. The former health minister said he would resign from his current post, which he has held since 1994, if the WHO accepted his candidacy. The eight-country Community of Portuguese-speaking Coun- tries announced earlier this month that it is backing Mocumbi (LUSA Agencia de Noticias, Sept. 20: http://www.lusa.pt/print.asp?id=4128326 ). The WHO will nominate a candidate for director general in January, at the 111th session of its executive board. The election of the new WHO head will take place in May, at the 56th World Health Assembly. --- PHA-Exchange is hosted on Kabissa - Space for change in Africa To post, write to: PHA-Exchange@kabissa.org Website: http://www.lists.kabissa.org/mailman/listinfo/pha-exchange