Goodwill ambassador appointment for Mugabe reversed by head of WHO
The head of the World Health Organisation yesterday reversed his decision to name Zimbabwe’s president Robert Mugabe as a goodwill ambassador after widespread uproar.
“Over the last few days, I have reflected on my appointment of president Robert Mugabe as WHO goodwill ambassador for non-communicable diseases in Africa … I have decided to rescind the appointment,” said the head of the UN agency, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Mr Tedros, who took charge of the WHO in July, said he had “listened carefully” to those who condemned the decision and spoken to the Harare government. “We have concluded that this decision is in the best interests of the World Health Organisation.”
Mr Tedros, from Ethiopia, had announced the appointment last week during a speech in Uruguay, where he praised Zimbabwe as “a country that places universal health coverage and health promotion at the centre of its policies to provide health care to all”.
But activists, public health experts and key WHO donors, such as Britain, Canada and the United States, denounced any prospective role for Mr Mugabe, saying Zimbabwe’s healthcare system has collapsed under his 37 years of authoritarian rule.
“The Mugabe appointment, coming at the end of [Mr Tedros’s] first 100 days, was a misstep,” the director of the Global Health Institute at Harvard University, Ashish K Jha, said in an email shortly before the WHO’s decision. “Reversing will actually be a strong sign that the leadership listens and is willing to be responsive to views of the global public.”
The US ambassador to the United Nations during Barack Obama’s administration, Samantha Power, tweeted: “Tedros will surely revoke terrible appointment of Mugabe as goodwill ambassador, but damage is done … The only person whose health 93-yearold Mugabe has looked out for in his 37-year reign is his own.”
Mr Mugabe travels overseas for his own medical care.
Mr Tedros, a former health minister of Ethiopia, is the first African leader of the WHO. But his decision to honour such a controversial man raised questions about his leadership just four months into his tenure.