Director-general of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Tedros Ghebreyesus last night said the United Nations agency was having second thoughts about the appointment of President Robert Mugabe as its goodwill ambassador.
Mugabe was named the WHO goodwill ambassador for non-communicable diseases, a move that sparked world-wide condemnation. Following a barrage of attacks yesterday, the WHO chief seemed to capitulate.
He said: “I’m listening. I hear your concerns. Rethinking the approach in light of WHO values. I will issue a statement as soon as possible.” Ghebreyesus made the statement on his official Twitter account.
The UK government had led the criticism of the WHO after it named Mugabe a “goodwill ambassador”.
A spokesman said the United Nations agency’s decision was “surprising and disappointing” and risked “overshadowing work undertaken globally by the WHO”.
Ghebreyesus said he was “honoured to announce” the 93-year-old would serve as an ambassador to help tackle non-communicable diseases such as heart attacks, strokes and asthma across Africa.
Speaking at a conference in Uruguay, Ghebreyesus described Zimbabwe as “a country that places universal health coverage and health promotion at the centre of its policies to provide healthcare to all” and said Mugabe could “influence his peers in his region”.
But activists inside the country said it was “absurd” to give the role to Mugabe, who has been accused of ruining his country’s health system and regularly flies abroad for his own medical treatment.
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Human rights and health groups also pointed to Mugabe’s “long track record of human rights violations”.
Mugabe has been accused of violent repression, election rigging and presiding over economic ruin during his 37 years as Zimbabwean leader. He has also been blamed for a health crisis that has pushed doctors to strike and left hospitals without medicine.
“Given Mugabe’s appalling human rights record, calling him a goodwill ambassador for anything embarrasses WHO and Dr Tedros,” said Iain Levine, a Human Rights Watch director.
Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based group UN Watch, described Mugabe’s appointment as “sickening”.
“The government of Robert Mugabe has brutalised human rights activists, crushed democracy dissidents, and turned the breadbasket of Africa and its health system into a basket-case,” he said. “The notion that the UN should now spin this country as a great supporter of health is, frankly, sickening.”
The UK government has complained to the WHO about Mugabe’s appointment. “President Mugabe’s appointment is surprising and disappointing, particularly in light of the current US and EU sanctions against him,” said a UK Government spokesman.
He added: “We have registered our concerns with WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Although Mugabe will not have an executive role, his appointment risks overshadowing the work undertaken globally by the WHO on non-communicable diseases.” The MDC-T described the appointment as “laughable”.
“The Zimbabwe health delivery system is in a shambolic state, it is an insult,” spokesman Obert Gutu told AFP. “Mugabe trashed our health delivery system. He and his family go outside of the country for treatment in Singapore after he allowed our public hospitals to collapse.”
Salani Mutseyami, a spokeswoman for the campaign groups Zimbabwe Vigil and Restoration of Human Rights, told the Daily Telegraph: “That is absolutely absurd. It shows the lack of interest that the UN might have towards what is really going on in Zimbabwe.”
Twenty-six health bodies from around the world, including the World Heart Federation, Action Against Smoking and Cancer Research UK, released a joint statement condemning Mugabe’s new role. — Staff Reporter/Independent UK
