At least five candidates vie to become the next WHO leader, as questions over U.S. role loom

At least five candidates are competing to become the next director-general of the World Health Organization, a position facing extraordinary challenges. The withdrawal of the United States, the WHO's largest funder, and an overall contraction of international spending on global health have raised crucial questions about how the Geneva-based agency will respond under a successor to Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Among the significant issues awaiting the next leader will be deciding whether or how to entice the U.S. to either return to the fold or at least interact more frequently and collaboratively with the WHO. Tedros' successor will take office on Aug. 16, 2027.

Lawrence Gostin, director of Georgetown University's WHO Collaborating Center on Public Health Law and Human Rights, called this "the most consequential DG election in modern WHO history" because the organization is "more vulnerable, in a more perilous position, than it's been at any time in the last 25 years." The nomination period closed Thursday, and five candidates are listed on the WHO's website, including late entrant Maria Neira, director of the WHO's environment, climate change, and migration division, who was nominated by Spain. In theory, additional candidates could be named over the coming weeks, but the WHO will not release the official list until all regional WHO divisions have had their fall meetings, which conclude in early November.

The five known candidates include Hanan Mohammed Al-Kuwari, Qatar's former public health minister (2016-2024) and managing director of Qatar's largest public health provider, Hamad Medical Corporation, from 2007 to 2024. She has previously served on the WHO's Executive Board and holds a Ph.D. in health care management from Brunel University in the United Kingdom. Hanan Balkhy has been director of the WHO's Eastern Mediterranean region since early 2024 and previously worked at WHO headquarters as assistant director-general for antimicrobial resistance. A pediatrician trained in Saudi Arabia and the U.S., Balkhy was born in the United States and has dual citizenship, a fact she doesn't emphasize; "I'm Saudi," she told STAT in an interview in April.

Hans Henri P. Kluge has been director of the WHO's European regional directorship since early 2020. A family physician with medical degrees from Belgium's Catholic University of Leuven and the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, he worked internationally for Doctors Without Borders in Africa, Asia, and Russia, focusing on tuberculosis and HIV, before joining WHO. He led the WHO's Europe region through the Covid-19 pandemic and the emergence of mpox in Europe. Maria P. Neira, director of the WHO's environment, climate change, and migration division, is a last-minute entry nominated by Spain.