Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is serving his second term as WHO Director-General. Born in Asmara, Eritrea, Dr Tedros has a Bachelor’s from the University of Asmara, an MSc from the University of London, a PhD from the University of Nottingham and an Honorary Fellowship from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
Dr Tedros then worked as a field-level malariologist and headed a regional health service in Ethiopia. While he was Ethiopia’s Minister of Health (2005 to 2012), Ethiopia expanded its health infrastructure, developed innovative health financing mechanisms, and expanded its health workforce. He drove major reforms, including the creation of a primary healthcare extension programme that deployed 40,000 female health workers throughout the country: a result was a drop of about 60% in child and maternal mortality from 2000 levels. As Minister of Foreign Affairs (2012 to 2016), he elevated health as a political issue nationally, regionally and globally.