Philippe Douste-Blazy, France’s candidate for the position of General Director of WHO, visited Prof. Dr. Eyüp Gümüş, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health in his office on 6 January 2016 at 11:00.
Office term of Dr. Margaret Chan, General Director of the World Health Organization (WHO), will end on 30 July 2017. Within this framework, Philippe Douste Blazy who worked as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Health in France and currently works as Counselor of UN General Secretariat and Chairman of UNITAID Executive Board stands as a candidate for the position of General Director of WHO. In the meeting, Blazy informed Mr. Undersecretary about his plans for the future period and his WHO vision and requested support of Turkey. Prof. Dr. Eyüp Gümüş said that the world needs a strong WHO and WHO needs a strong leader. Mr. Undersecretary concluded his works by saying that the official candidacy process has not started yet and the Turkish Ministry of Health will monitor the process closely and evaluate the issue accordingly.