This week's annual assembly of the World Health Organization has been shaken by the death of its director general, Lee Jong-wook.
Dr Lee, 61, died in Geneva's Cantonal Hospital on Monday, two days after emergency surgery to treat a blood clot on his brain. Born in South Korea, Dr Lee had worked at WHO for 23 years before becoming its head in 2003.
News of his death came as the 192 nation body convened its annual assembly. “I am sorry to tell you that Dr Lee Jong-wook, director general of the WHO, died this morning,” Spain's health minister, Elena Salgado, told the opening session of the assembly.
Ms Salgado, who is chairing the assembly, said that Dr Lee “was an exceptional person and an exceptional director general.” The assembly observed a one minute silence and was then suspended for 30 minutes.
WHO issued the following statement on its website: “All of the staff of the World Health Organization extend their most sincere condolences to Dr Lee's family. The sudden loss of our leader, colleague, and friend is devastating.
“Dr Lee led WHO to continue its mission to help people attain the highest possible level of health.”
Kofi Annan, secretary general of the United Nations, said: “I am shocked and deeply saddened to learn of the sudden passing of Dr Lee.”
Anders Nordström, currently WHO's assistant director general for general management, will step in as acting director general.
Dr Lee succeeded Norway's Gro Harlem Brundtland as director general in July 2003. It was thought that the combative Norwegian would be a hard act to follow. However, Dr Lee continued to win plaudits for the quietly effective management style he had shown in his previous position as head of WHO's tuberculosis programme.
He qualified at Seoul National University's College of Medicine and later studied at the University of Hawaii's School of Public Health. He became a specialist in tropical diseases and began his WHO career in 1983 as a consultant on leprosy.
As director of the WHO global programme for vaccines and immunisations and executive secretary of the children's vaccine initiative from 1994 to 1998 he worked towards the global eradication of poliomyelitis as well as other vaccine preventable diseases affecting children.
Dr Lee said his success in office would be defined by the fight against AIDS. However, his tenure was largely dominated by fears that the H5N1 strain of avian flu may give rise to a new pandemic.
Figure 1.
The loss of Dr Lee Jong-wook, “our leader, colleague, and friend,” was devastating, a statement from WHO said
Credit: SVEN TORFINN/PANOS
Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Bill Kean, executive director of the office of the director general, paid tribute to Dr Lee, who was a personal friend. “He was a rare individual and an exceptional public health doctor,” he said. Dr Kean said that Dr Lee had extensive experience and expertise gained through working at country, regional, and global level and that his leadership on avian flu and the HIV and AIDS “3 by 5” initiative (to treat three million people by 2005) had been strong. “It took courage and determination, as well as good management, to get the right resources mobilised at the right time,” he said.
He is survived by his wife and son.
