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New Director General of WHO Must be Independent, Willing to take risks,
Ensure accountability to Human Rights and Public Health
November 8, 2006 - (Washington, DC) - The Center for Health and Equity (CHANGE) welcomes the newly appointed Director-General
of the World Health Organization, Dr. Margaret Chan. However, the US-based NGO cautioned that in her new role, Dr. Chan must
demonstrate independence, tackle controversial issues with transparency and integrity, and ensure accountability in all the
work of WHO to the individuals and communities across the globe that WHO ultimately serves.
"We congratulate Dr. Chan on her new position," stated Jodi Jacobson, Executive Director of the Center for
Health and Gender Equity, "and we wish her success."
"That success, however, will ultimately depend on her willingness to simultaneously promote public health
and human rights, and to speak out on controversial issues with integrity," asserted Jacobson. "It will also depend on her
immediate demonstration of accountability to the individuals and communities at greatest risk of disease, death, and
disenfranchisement."
"Over the past several years, the World Health Organization has succumbed to the influence of the United States
and ultra-conservative forces on issues such as safe abortion, reproductive and sexual health, HIV testing, and in other key areas
of public health," said Jacobson. "Reports on critical issues have been suppressed under pressure from the United States, the inclusion
of human rights language in WHO documents has been contested, and the decision-making process for developing recommendations to countries
for health protocols--such as promoting provider-initiated HIV testing without adequate informed consent--has become increasingly closed and
insulated from the participation of affected communities."
For example, noted Jacobson, "recent reports highlight the role the US has played in silencing critiques of the effects
of U.S. trade policies on affordable access to drugs in countries where only a small fraction of people with HIV and other life-threatening
illnesses have access at all."
In her statement to the World Health Assembly, Dr. Chan has said that she wants to be judged in part on her ability to promote
the health of women. "We of course welcome her acknowledgement of women as a critical constituency," stated Jacobson.
"But to realize this goal," stated Jacobson, "Dr. Chan must ignore pressure from conservative movements
that seek to deny women's human rights and their access to life-saving services."
"Dr. Chan has a responsibility as head of WHO to push for dramatic increases in women's access to comprehensive
sexual and reproductive health care for prevention of HIV, unintended pregnancy, unsafe abortion, and maternal death, among other
things. She must speak out for the basic human rights of all women, including the rights to be free from violence and sexual coercion
by intimate partners, and to decide whether and when to bear children. She must ensure that women have equitable access to treatment and
essential medicines, and that mothers get access to treatment beyond the prevention of maternal-to-child transmission."
We also expect that as the leader of the world's multilateral public health and medical institution, she will ensure
that WHO supports HIV prevention strategies based on complete and accurate evidence-based information and on efforts to promote the basic
rights of all individuals-women, men, adolescents-to have access to information and technologies for prevention.
Moreover, in her position as leader of the most important international health body, it will be critical that she take on
the many complex and interconnected issues, including:
With more than 4 million people becoming infected with HIV in the last year alone, more money must
be pumped into research to prevent this scourge, especially into the search for a microbicidal gel blocking
transmission of the virus and in the quest for a preventive vaccine.
- Prioritizing universal access to prevention, treatment, and care for all people. The African Union (AU) Common Position commits
to doing everything possible to achieve 80 percent coverage of adults and children in need of antiretroviral treatment (ART) by 2010. Dr. Chan
must push all regions to adopt similar goals, and push for all member governments to make real progress toward them.
- Tackling the challenges of TB/HIV co-infection, helping countries achieve universal access to the full WHO-recommended package of 12 collaborative
TB/HIV activities in all health systems, particularly in countries with high HIV burden. And she must address the increasing epidemics of MDR- and XDR-TB.
- Promoting the rights of specific populations that are particularly vulnerable in the HIV epidemic, including those already marginalized by social stigma and
widespread discrimination and routinely denied their basic human rights, including intravenous drug users (IDUs), commercial sex workers (CSWs), gay, lesbian and
transgender persons, men who have sex with men (MSM), and undocumented migrants. Rather than promoting their basic human rights, governments often seek instead to
criminalize and further marginalize these groups. WHO must reject such strategies and seek to promote universal human rights as a precursor to achieving sustainable
progress on public health.
- She must lead the world in an effort to deliver on universal access to essential commodities including: antiretroviral medicines (for both treatment and prevention
of HIV infection); drugs to treat and prevent tuberculosis, hepatitis C, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and other co-infections; HIV testing kits and other diagnostic
technologies; home-based care kits and related essentials; breast milk substitutes; contraceptives, and male and female condoms; substitution treatments; and clean injecting equipment.
And among her priorities must be a sense of responsiveness by WHO to the individuals and communities to which all governments and WHO are ultimately accountable.
"We regret," stated Jacobson, "that Dr. Chan did not respond to the civil society questionnaire circulated to all candidates last month. Civil society organizations throughout the world want to see Dr. Chan succeed in her new role, and stand ready to help her in that process. However, we need to ensure that there are avenues of communication open for that to happen."
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The is a US-based non-governmental organization
focused on the effects of US international policies on the health and rights of women, girls and other vulnerable populations in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
www.genderhealth.org; www.pepfarwatch.org
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