<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Dear Friends</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">The Medical Students International Network (UK) together with Medact is sending a sign-on letter to all Ministers of Health protesting about the lack of democracy in WHO elections. Please find the letter, and list of signatories at
<a href="http://www.medsin.org/who4who">www.medsin.org/who4who</a> and you can sign on by sending an email to <a href="mailto:who4who@medsin.org">who4who@medsin.org</a>. </span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">The letter is also pasted below.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Many thanks</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Mike Rowson</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face="Times New Roman">Dear Minister </font></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face="Times New Roman">Election of WHO Director-General</font></span></b></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face="Times New Roman">Following the tragic death of Dr Lee Jong-wook, we are taking this opportunity to write to you about the election of the next Director-General of the World Health Organization in November 2006. We are a diverse international group of organizations and individuals, including donors, academics, NGOs, community groups and health care professionals
<i>[rephrase when we have final list of signatories].</i> We all share a concern for global health, especially the health of the world's poorest people.</font></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face="Times New Roman">WHO is responsible for upholding the right to health of more than six billion people. Fundamental democratic values such as transparency should therefore underlie this election. At present, however, the election process does not uphold these values (as defined in article 31[7] of the WHO constitution, and by Rule 52 of the Rules of Procedure of the Executive Board).
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face="Times New Roman">Two concerns stand out in particular: </font></span></p>
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<span style="mso-list: Ignore">·<span style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face="Times New Roman">None of the Executive Board discussions during the election process are held in public, and voting is by secret ballot.
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<span style="mso-list: Ignore">·<span style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face="Times New Roman">All Executive Board members are officially representatives of their respective governments. Some have no public health background, and political agendas easily dominate. The Board itself has only 32 members, leaving 160 UN member states unrepresented in the process.
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face="Times New Roman">Past elections for the post of Director-General have raised many concerns about procedures, including allegations of improper pressures put on countries to back certain candidates; a voting process that skews results perversely towards weaker candidates; candidates themselves making promises that do not meet global health needs or WHO priorities; and lack of access for the public at large to join the debate.
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face="Times New Roman">In your capacity as Health Minister of a UN member state, we urge you to use your influence to highlight the problems with the present system, and encourage the adoption of a more transparent and equitable process. The options need to be debated: requiring candidates to publish and widely circulate manifestos and make themselves available for public debate would be a good start. Reform of the electoral process should also be discussed, including moving to an open ballot and widening the franchise to include a broader range of member states.
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face="Times New Roman">We also respectfully propose that all Ministers of Health discuss in advance their reasons for backing certain candidates with relevant civil society organizations in their own countries, or at least discuss the key attributes they seek in a Director-General. This would uphold the WHO constitution, which states that "informed opinion and active co-operation on the part of the public are of the utmost importance in the improvement of the health of the people." It would also promote a key aspect of the right to health identified by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in a recent General Comment – the participation of the population in all health-related decision-making, including at the international level.
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face="Times New Roman">As organizations especially concerned with the health of the poor, we believe WHO should represent the interests of the least powerful – by definition those most likely to have their right to health denied. It is therefore vital that the Director-General is selected on his or her ability to be accountable to the vulnerable in an increasingly unequal world, and to lead the changes needed to improve global health. We ask countries to consider that the selection of such a leader would, in the longer term, confer more benefits on all countries (including your own) than the shorter-term advantages that many often believe to accrue from selecting a candidate according to more self-interested criteria.
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face="Times New Roman">Without a transparent election process it is extremely difficult to make progress towards these goals. Our suggestions may not influence the current election process, but we would welcome your comments. We hope that you will be able to discuss them with your colleagues when you gather in
Geneva in November. Steps could also be initiated then to set long overdue electoral reforms in train that would be in place for subsequent elections.</font></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"><font face="Times New Roman">Yours sincerely</font></span></p>