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THE WORLD HEALTH ASSEMBLY MOURNS THE DEATH
OF DR LEE JONG-WOOK
The Fifty-ninth
World Health Assembly opened on a sombre note on 22 May 2006 following the
death early the same morning of Dr LEE Jong-wook,
Director-General of the World Health Organization. Dr LEE, who was 61 and had
been in his post since July 2003, died following a sudden illness.
Opening the formal
proceedings of the Health Assembly, the Minister of Health of Spain, Elena
Salgado, said Dr LEE “was an exceptional person and an exceptional
Director-General”. The Assembly observed a two-minute silence and was
suspended for 30 minutes following the announcement of Dr LEE’s
death.
Speaking at Dr LEE’s funeral on 24 May 2006, his son Tadahiro
said, “Dr LEE was a man of action whose adventurous spirit led him to
experience more, see more, and do more. This spirit made him great at work
and great at life. He gave 100 per cent of his attention to each one of the
people he cared about, and to the issues he was passionate about.”
People attending
the funeral heard about Dr LEE’s passion for his
work, and for literature, sports and nature. They also heard about the quiet
ways in which he took care of people. “One of the last things he did was, on
Friday night, to rush out and buy a take-away Chinese meal for two staff who were working late,” said Dr Bill Kean,
the head of Dr LEE’s office.
Dr LEE became
Director-General of the World Health Organization on 21 July 2003. Before that, he had
worked for more than 20 years for the Organization, first battling leprosy in
the South Pacific islands, then tackling vaccine preventable diseases
including polio. At WHO Headquarters in Geneva,
he pioneered new ways for people to gain access to tuberculosis medicines.
The Deputy
Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr Mark Malloch
Brown, attended the funeral to represent the Secretary-General. Other heads
of UN agencies present included Ms Ann Veneman,
Executive Director of UNICEF, Dr Peter Piot,
Executive Director of UNAIDS, and Mr Juan Somavia,
Director-General of the ILO. Many more representatives from governments and
UN agencies also attended.
The World Health
Assembly is the supreme decision-making body for WHO.
It generally meets in Geneva
in May each year, and is attended by delegations from all 192 Member States.
The main function of the Health Assembly is to determine the policies of the
Organization.
The issues
discussed this year included: strengthening pandemic-influenza preparedness
and response; including the application of the International Health
Regulations 2005; infant and young child nutrition; HIV/AIDS; polio
eradication; sickle-cell anaemia; smallpox
eradication and the destruction of variola virus
stocks; prevention of avoidable blindness; international trade and health;
tobacco control, and intellectual property rights.
The keynote
speaker this year was His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales.
(WHO Press Release)
WE HEAR
…that a condolence
meeting in memory of the late Dr LEE Jong-wook was
held in the Regional Office on 22 May 2006 in the Conference Hall. The
meeting was chaired by Dr Than Sein, Acting
Regional Director who read out Dr LEE’s obituary.
Staff present observed a minute’s silence in memory of the late
Director-General.
…that Ms Le Le Win, Assistant, WR Myanmar Office, has taken early
retirement from WHO service effective 1 June 2006.
SHORT-TERM CONSULTANTS/PROFESSIONALS
Dr N. Kumara Rai has taken up a five-and-a-half-month assignment as a
Short-term Professional: Medical Officer - Epidemiologist with the INO TUB
001 project in SEARO.
STAFF DEPARTURES
A farewell
function organized by the Staff Association was held in honour
of Dr M. Khalilullah, Regional Fellowships Officer,
on 23 May at 2.30 p.m.
in the Conference Hall. Dr Khalilullah will be
retiring on superannuation at the end of May.
SCRABBLE ….
ASTRONOMER:
When you rearrange
the letters, you get
MOON STARER
DORMITORY:
When you rearrange
the letters, you get
DIRTY ROOM
PRESBYTERIAN:
When you rearrange
the letters, you get
BEST IN PRAYER
GEORGE BUSH:
When you rearrange
the letters, you get
HE BUGS GORE
THE MORSE CODE:
When you rearrange
the letters, you get
HERE COME DOTS
ELECTION RESULTS:
When you rearrange
the letters, you get
LIES - LET'S
RECOUNT
MOTHER-IN-LAW:
When you rearrange
the letters, you get
WOMAN HITLER
SNOOZE ALARMS:
When you rearrange
the letters, you get
ALAS! NO MORE Z 'S
A DECIMAL POINT:
When you rearrange
the letters, you get
IM A DOT IN PLACE
THE EARTHQUAKES:
When you rearrange
the letters, you get
THAT QUEER SHAKE
AND FOR THE GRAND
FINALE:
ELEVEN PLUS TWO:
When you rearrange
the letters, you get
TWELVE PLUS ONE
(Contributed by Mr Kuldeep Sharma, NMH-O, Source: Internet)
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