NPR

World Health Organization Elects First Director General From Africa

The new leader, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of Ethiopia, will be expected to reform the bureaucratic agency and deal with the world's growing health problems.
Ethiopia's Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, center, after his speech to delegates at the World Health Assembly on May 23 in Geneva. / FABRICE COFFRINI / Getty Images

Health officials from more than 180 countries meeting in Geneva on Tuesday have elected a new leader for the World Health Organization.

A former health minister from Ethiopia takes over an agency that's struggled recently to find the funding and exert the political leadership it needs to tackle the world's health

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