Lee Jong-wook, WHO chief

GENEVA – Dr Lee Jong-wook (61), who spearheaded the World Health Organisation’s successive battles against SARS and bird flu, died on Monday after undergoing emergency surgery for a blood clot in his brain.

Lee took over as Director General of WHO in 2003 as the agency battled the SARS outbreak in Asia. After the threat from SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, was contained, WHO turned its attention to bird flu amid fears that the virus could mutate into a strain easily transmitted among people.The agency oversaw a number of preparatory meetings as the experts sharpened their plans.WHO built up a reserve of anti-viral medicines and encouraged vaccine research.At a global donors’ meeting in Beijing in January, US$1,9 billion was pledged to the fight against bird flu and preparations for a potential pandemic.Lee worked for WHO for 23 years, including time served in regional posts.He was the first South Korean to head a UN agency, after winning praise for his low-key but efficient management style as head of the agency’s tuberculosis programme.Time magazine named Lee one of the world’s 100 most influential people in 2004.Lee “was an exceptional person and an exceptional director general,” Elena Salgado, Spain’s health minister and president of the World Health Assembly, sai.Lee originally said he wanted to improve international monitoring to help tackle outbreaks of diseases like SARS and that his mandate would be defined by the fight against HIV-AIDS, particularly in the hardest-hit poor countries.But his time in office came to be dominated by the high-profile spread of bird flu through Asia, Europe and Africa and its potential for causing a human influenza pandemic.”We know another pandemic is inevitable,” Lee told a 2004 meeting of experts to discuss preparations for the emergence of a new strain of flu virus, expected to come from a change in bird flu.”And when this happens, we also know that we are unlikely to have enough drugs, vaccines, health care workers and hospital capacity to cope in an ideal way.So we must act wisely.”Lee was elected by WHO’s executive committee in January 2003 to replace Gro Harlem Brundtland, a former Norwegian prime minister who stepped down after successfully transforming WHO from a disillusioned and badly managed organisation to a high-profile agency which has put health firmly on the global political agenda.Lee, a tuberculosis expert, had previously run WHO’s Stop TB programme.He was the only WHO insider in the race for the top job in 2003 and the only candidate never to have held a ministerial or top UN post.Although initially regarded as a political lightweight, he showed his acumen early on in the race by persuading 53 members of the US Congress to write to Secretary of State Colin Powell and Tommy Thompson, the health secretary, backing his candidacy.- Nampa-APAfter the threat from SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, was contained, WHO turned its attention to bird flu amid fears that the virus could mutate into a strain easily transmitted among people.The agency oversaw a number of preparatory meetings as the experts sharpened their plans.WHO built up a reserve of anti-viral medicines and encouraged vaccine research.At a global donors’ meeting in Beijing in January, US$1,9 billion was pledged to the fight against bird flu and preparations for a potential pandemic.Lee worked for WHO for 23 years, including time served in regional posts.He was the first South Korean to head a UN agency, after winning praise for his low-key but efficient management style as head of the agency’s tuberculosis programme.Time magazine named Lee one of the world’s 100 most influential people in 2004.Lee “was an exceptional person and an exceptional director general,” Elena Salgado, Spain’s health minister and president of the World Health Assembly, sai.Lee originally said he wanted to improve international monitoring to help tackle outbreaks of diseases like SARS and that his mandate would be defined by the fight against HIV-AIDS, particularly in the hardest-hit poor countries.But his time in office came to be dominated by the high-profile spread of bird flu through Asia, Europe and Africa and its potential for causing a human influenza pandemic.”We know another pandemic is inevitable,” Lee told a 2004 meeting of experts to discuss preparations for the emergence of a new strain of flu virus, expected to come from a change in bird flu.”And when this happens, we also know that we are unlikely to have enough drugs, vaccines, health care workers and hospital capacity to cope in an ideal way.So we must act wisely.”Lee was elected by WHO’s executive committee in January 2003 to replace Gro Harlem Brundtland, a former Norwegian prime minister who stepped down after successfully transforming WHO from a disillusioned and badly managed organisation to a high-profile agency which has put health firmly on the global political agenda.Lee, a tuberculosis expert, had previously run WHO’s Stop TB programme.He was the only WHO insider in the race for the top job in 2003 and the only candidate never to have held a ministerial or top UN post.Although initially regarded as a political lightweight, he showed his acumen early on in the race by persuading 53 members of the US Congress to write to Secretary of State Colin Powell and Tommy Thompson, the health secretary, backing his candidacy.- Nampa-AP