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BMJ No 7124 Volume 316 News Saturday 3 January 1998 WHO Special Report How the final candidate will be chosen Since the current director general, Hiroshi Nakajima, won his bid for re-election in 1993 amid allegations of vote rigging, the system for appointing his successor has been revised. But the new rules fall short of open and competitive recruitment. There is no independent search committee. Candidates are nominated by their countries. They must be experts in international health with a track record of managing complex organisations and mastery of the United Nations' official languages. The WHO's executive board will shortlist five of the seven candidates. These will then be interviewed by the board and asked to make a presentation. The final nomination will be announced on 27 January, for ratification in May by the WHO's governing body, the World Health Assembly, on which all 191 member states have a vote. The board's nominee has never yet been turned down by the assembly. The 32 members of the executive board are mostly senior health ministers. They are appointed for a three year term to act as individuals in the best interests of the organisation rather than as representatives of their countries. But voting remains highly politicised. Board members may be pressurised to vote in a particular way by their own governments, the director of their region, or other countries, either with or without representation on the board, who have influence on their governments. In the past the outcome is considered to have had as much to do with the make up and allegiances of the board as with the merits of individual candidates. This time around the board consists of six African states, five Arab states, five countries from Latin America and the Caribbean, six countries from South East Asia and the Pacific rim, and 10 countries from Europe, North America, and Australasia. Of the major donors, Japan, Norway, and Britain currently have a presence on the board, but the United States does not. Home | Current issue | Past issues | Classified ads | Career Focus | Feedback Collections | About this site | About the BMJ | BMA | Medline