W.H.O. Removes Robert Mugabe as ‘Good-Will Ambassador’

By Yonette Joseph (Washington post) - After days of scathing criticism around the globe for naming Zimbabwe’s leader, Robert Mugabe, a “good-will ambassador” for health, the leader of the World Health Organization said on Sunday that he had rescinded the title.

In a statement, the W.H.O.’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said he had “reflected” on the appointment.

“I have listened carefully to all who have expressed their concerns, and heard the different issues that they have raised,” he said. “I have also consulted with the government of Zimbabwe and we have concluded that this decision is in the best interests of the World Health Organization.”

On Wednesday, at a global conference in Uruguay on noncommunicable diseases, Dr. Tedros, an Ethiopian and the first African to lead the United Nations’ health agency, said he was “honored” to be joined by Mr. Mugabe, 93, and appoint him an ambassador.

Dr. Tedros said the leader could use the role “to influence his peers in his region” when it came to fighting noncommunicable diseases — such as heart attacks, strokes and asthma — in Africa.

He also praised Zimbabwe as “a country that places universal health coverage and health promotion at the center of its policies to provide health care to all.”

The reaction was swift and unforgiving.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada joined a chorus of world leaders, the State Department, medical professionals and social media users who expressed outrage or puzzlement at the appointment.

Appearing in Edmonton on Saturday, Mr. Trudeau told reporters that he thought the choice of Mr. Mugabe was “a bad April Fool’s joke,” according to the local news media.

Twenty-eight health organizations, including the NCD Alliance — which works with the W.H.O. and other global groups to battle noncommunicable diseases — released a statement expressing “shock” at the appointment.

Obert Gutu, a spokesman for Zimbabwe’s main opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change, said, “It is an insult.”

He added: “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.”

Under Mr. Mugabe’s authoritarian rule, critics say, the country’s health care system, like many of its public services, has suffered badly, with hospitals frequently lacking essential supplies and nurses and doctors regularly left without pay.

Mr. Mugabe and Zimbabwe have also been slapped with international sanctions over human rights abuses.

Hillel Neuer, the executive director of UN Watch, a human rights group, had condemned the choice. He called on Dr. Tedros to reconsider, writing on Twitter: “@DrTedros I urge you to cancel your appointment of Mugabe as W.H.O. ‘good-will ambassador’ — he ruined Zimbabwe’s health.”

Neither the president nor his government has reacted publicly to the controversy.

In a tweet on Saturday, Dr. Tedros wrote: “I’m listening. I hear your concerns. Rethinking the approach in light of WHO values.”

A spokesman for the W.H.O., Christian Lindmeier, had said that the agency’s director general was seeking broad support for its work.

“Tedros has frequently talked of his determination to build a global movement to promote high-level political leadership for health,” he said.

In his statement on Sunday, Dr. Tedros said, “I remain firmly committed to working with all countries and their leaders to ensure that every one has access to the health care they need.”