China's Chan elected WHO director general

GENEVA: The World Health Organisation's assembly on Thursday elected Margaret Chan as the first Chinese director general of the United Nations health agency, the assembly's president Ivo Garrido announced.

Chan was approved by an overwhelming majority.

The vote by 150 of the agency's 193 member states followed Chan's nomination by the agency's governing board yesterday. Only 159 nations were allowed to take part in the ballot behind closed doors, a diplomat said.

"The first special session of the World Health Assembly... appoints Dr Margaret Chan as director general of the World Health Organisation," Garrido, Mozambique's Health Minister, announced after the vote.

Chan will serve from January 4, 2007, until June 30, 2012, he added.

When she takes office, it will be the first time that an official from China has headed a UN agency.

Although she is better known for dealing with bird flu and SARS, the WHO said Chan introduced a "from the diaper to the grave" health care system as Hong Kong'stop health official in the 1990s, focusing on disease prevention, self-care and healthy lifestyles.

US Health Secretary Mike Leavitt welcomed the arrival of a "strong leader", saying she had a "proven record".

The 59 year-old will take over a range of challenges and reforms from her predecessor, South Korean Lee Jong Wook, who died suddenly in May.