Director-General of the World Health Organization

E19497

The Director-General of the World Health Organization is the chief executive officer and highest technical and administrative leader of WHO, responsible for guiding global health policy and coordinating international responses to health emergencies.


Statements (48)
Predicate Object
instanceOf executive position
head of international organization
leadership role
appliesToJurisdiction world
appointedBy World Health Assembly
canHaveMultipleTerms true
country Switzerland
firstHolder Brock Chisholm
hasAuthorityOver WHO staff
hasRole chief executive officer of WHO
chief spokesperson of WHO
highest administrative leader of WHO
highest technical leader of WHO
headquartersLocation Geneva
inception 1948
legalBasis Constitution of the World Health Organization
nominatedBy WHO Executive Board
occupant Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
officeCreatedBy World Health Assembly
officeHeldByHeadOfOrganization World Health Organization
oversees WHO country offices
WHO headquarters departments
WHO regional offices
participatesIn WHO Executive Board meetings
World Health Assembly meetings
partOf World Health Organization
reportsTo WHO Executive Board
World Health Assembly
represents World Health Organization in international forums
responsibleFor coordinating global responses to disease outbreaks
coordinating global responses to pandemics
coordinating international responses to health emergencies
declaring a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)
ensuring compliance with International Health Regulations (IHR) procedures by WHO
execution of WHO programme budget
guiding global health policy
implementing decisions of the WHO Executive Board
implementing decisions of the World Health Assembly
mobilizing resources for WHO
overall administrative direction of WHO
overall management of the WHO Secretariat
overall technical direction of WHO
preparation of WHO programme budget
promoting universal health coverage
setting global health priorities for WHO
strengthening health systems globally
termLength 5 years
termRenewable true

Referenced by (12)

Please wait…