TRIBUTE |
A tribute to Dr Lee Jong-wook, Director-General of WHO
Dr Lee Jong-wook, Director-General of the World Health Organization, died on 22 May 2006 following a short illness.
Dr Lee, a national of the Republic of Korea, was unfalteringly committed to WHO's mission, to help all people to attain ‘the highest possible level of health’.
Dr Lee supported health promotion efforts. He said: ‘health promotion draws its sprit from the Alma-Ata Declaration of 1978, which stressed the responsibility of all members of the community for a healthy and rewarding life. We are more than ever in need of that spirit now in our fight against preventable and unacceptable epidemics of our time’. His support to health promotion was reflected in his attendance at both the 18th IUHPE World Conference on Health Promotion and Education in 2004 and the WHO 6th Global Conference on Health Promotion in 2005. Dr Lee also initiated the formation of the Commission on Social Determinants of Health. Operating for three years from March 2005, the Commission is charged with recommending interventions and policies to improve health and narrow health inequalities through action on social determinants
Dr Lee also took the fight against HIV and the threat of pandemic influenza to a new level. He said: ‘There can be no "comfort level" in the fight against HIV. We must keep up the pressure to get prevention, treatment and care linked and working. A key outcome of "3 by 5" was the commitment to universal access to treatment by 2010. But what does universal access mean? To me, this means that no one should die because they can't get drugs. It means that no one will miss being tested, diagnosed, treated and cared for because there aren't clinics’. In his global effort to tackle avian influenza, he had a simple message: ‘Prepare for a pandemic now, before it is too late’. World leaders took it to heart and acted. Because of his conviction, the world is now better prepared for pandemic influenza than it has ever has been in history.
He preferred to lead by example, rather than instruction. He led a healthy life, and embraced life in Switzerland to its fullest. He loved skiing, mountain biking and walking. He also set an example across the United Nations, with strict rules against tobacco use, and the conversion of the fleet of WHO cars to small, environmentally friendly fuel/electric vehicles.
Dr Lee was the first UN agency head from the Republic of Korea. He began his five-year term as Director-General of WHO on 21 July 2003.
World Health Organization
Geneva
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FOOTNOTES |
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C. McNab is a staff member of the World Health Organization. The author alone is responsible for the views expressed in this publication and they do not necessarily represent the decisions, policy or views of the World Health Organization.
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