AS REPORTED BY GULF NEWS

- Former Norweign premier Gro Harlem Brundtland, elected director general of the World Health Organisation (WHO), vowed to place health at the top of the international political agenda. “The health dimension has not had enough attention from leaders of the world and I think we need to change that. I see that as my first priority,” Brundtland told a press briefing after the WHO’s 32-member executive committee elected her to the top post in a secret ballot. Brundtland, 58, a physician, defeated four other candidates, including another female rival, for the job that became vacant when Japan’s Hiroshi Nakajima announced last year he would not run for a third term. Brundtland is the first woman ever to win the WHO top slot.