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Health minister appointed WHO Assembly president

    JOHANNESBURG

    Namibia’s health minister, Dr Libertina Amathila, was this week elected President of the 53rd World Health Assembly of the World Health Organisation (WHO) currently meeting in Geneva, Switzerland.

    A WHO statement said Amathila was unanimously elected to lead the activities of the assembly for the next 12 months until May next year. The assembly is an annual general meeting of all health ministers of the 200 member countries of WHO. Amathila will preside over the week-long session of the Assembly.

    In her acceptance speech, Amathila, said new diseases like HIV/AIDS and Ebola are negatively affecting the economies of developing countries as they cause more deaths among the poor of the world.

    Amathila, who pointed out the successes achieved by the health sector globally, such as the eradication of smallpox and the increased control of a number of infectious diseases, also reminded the assembly of the challenges facing WHO.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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