Editorial: Right woman for the job

Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2006 | 7:38 a.m.

Perhaps the most challenging part of Dr. Margaret Chan's new job - she was elected last week to run the World Health Organization - may be dealing with her own government.

Chan, the first Chinese national to head a major U.N. agency, was Hong Kong's director of health during the initial outbreaks of avian flu, in 1997, and SARS, in 2003. She won plaudits for her handling of those health crises as she actively worked to inform the public, worked quickly to suppress the spread of the viruses and, according to the Washington Post, battled with officials in Beijing and urged them to be more forthcoming.

Officials in Beijing have been reticent about public health issues - they initially tried to suppress the extent of SARS and most recently have failed to provide promised samples of avian flu viruses to the World Health Organization.

Chan's elevation is important because, as the Washington Post notes, China is both an "incubator of emerging pathogens" and a country "with the capacity to make or break the global response."

Given the major global health issues, from AIDS to avian flu to SARS, and how quickly they can spread, the whole world has to be involved and cooperate on public health. The world needs strong leadership on public health issues, and Chan showed herself to be up to the challenge.

At a news conference after her election, Chan pledged to stand up to her country as need be.

"My track record is public knowledge," she said at a news conference, as reported by the Canadian Press news service. "And on occasions and occasions and occasions, I championed and made tough decisions on public health grounds.

"That will continue to be my principle."

She pledged that if there's strong evidence to indicate a need to move on a budding public health crisis, "we have to take action, irrespective of how difficult it is - and at times political.

"We have to have the courage."

Indeed. She'll need an ample dose of that.