Margaret Chan

Margaret Chan Fung Fu -chun (Chinese陈 冯富珍/陈 冯富珍; * 1947 in Hong Kong ) since 2006 has been Director General of the World Health Organization ( WHO) and was elected in May 2012 for a second term until 30 June 2017. She is the first Chinese woman who heads a UN specialized agency.

Biography

Margaret Chan completed her medical studies at the Canadian University of Western Ontario. After returning to Hong Kong, she entered in 1978 in the health authority of the former British colony a. From 1994 to 2003 she was Director Health in the Government of Hong Kong. In this role, she was also responsible for the control of avian influenza H5N1 (1997) and SARS in 2003, the outbreak in Hong Kong called for nearly 300 deaths. For its hesitations in the fight against SARS, she was criticized by the public and Parliament. On the other hand, there was a commission of experts appointed by the government to the conclusion that it could not be attributed to the mismanagement.

That same year, she left her office to accept a position as Director of the Department for the protection of the human environment at the WHO. In 2005 she became director of the WHO Department for the surveillance and control of communicable diseases, and Deputy Director-General for the area of ​​flu pandemic.

It was because of their consent to the classification of the H1N1 virus strongly criticized as a pandemic because the criteria were set down for a pandemic of this virus. Members of the Council of Europe criticized Chan also, above all the German politician Wolfgang Wodarg (SPD ), Member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council. The allegations of a hasty procedure were rejected by the WHO.