BMJ  2006;332 (27 May), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7552.0-f

Editor's choice

Taking a stand

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The World Health Organization has had good and bad leaders. Dr Lee Jong-wook, who died last week just three years into his first term as WHO's director general, was one of the better ones (p 1234). He died just before the opening session of WHO's annual assembly and only days after the successful resolution of a cause he had championed—the registration of clinical trials (p 1232). His support, both moral and financial, for trial registration showed his willingness to resist pressure from powerful industry lobbies. Because of this, WHO's stance on trial registration should take its place alongside the organisation's earlier triumphs, most famously its stance against the producers of infant formula milk in the 1980s.

Dr Lee said that his success in office would be defined by the fight against HIV and AIDS. His tenure can be judged a success in that treatment for HIV . . . [Full text of this article]

Fiona Godlee, editor

(fgodlee@bmj.com)


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