Ghebreyesus will begin a five-year term on 1 July, WHO said in a statement. The next WHO chief left his post as foreign minister last year, after four years in office. He was Ethiopia’s health minister from 2005 until 2012 and has chaired international efforts to combat AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
"The WHO has become ideology-driven, engaging in a fight against businesses, tobacco growers, and vapers when it should open itself up to scrutiny and see the merit of initiatives that are actually delivering results, no matter what individual positions are," said Michelle McKeown, vice president for corporate communications at Japan Tobacco International. "We trust the new WHO director-general will take this opportunity to get back to basics by tackling the issue of transparency, keeping an objective view of sustainability in the developing world, and accepting that the innovation of next-generation products can help address some of the organisation’s concerns."