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Leading the fight against infectious diseases
Margaret Chan is a Chinese doctor, born in
1947.
Chan studied medicine at the University of
Western Ontario in Canada. In 1978 she joined
the Department of Health of Hong Kong, where
she started her career in the field of public
health.
For nine years she was the Director of Health
of Hong Kong. In the exercise of this office she
launched new services to prevent the spread of
disease and promote health. She promoted
new initiatives to improve monitoring and
response to infectious diseases, strengthen the
training of public health professionals and
improve local and international collaboration
mechanisms. She effectively managed outbreaks of avian flu and severe acute respiratory
syndrome.
In 2003 she joined the World Health Organization, being appointed in June 2005 Director of
the Office of Infectious Diseases. Since 2006
she held the position of Director-General of
WHO, the organization responsible for eradicating infectious diseases and diseases that can
be prevented with vaccination.
From her post Dr. Chan has faced health
emergencies and the crisis of antibioticresistance. On September 21, 2016 she spoke
a few, almost apocalyptic, words at the headquarters of the United Nations:
“Antimicrobial resistance is a global crisis, a
tsunami in slow motion.
The situation is bad and is getting worse.
Considering the current trends, a common
disease like gonorrhea could become untreatable. Doctors will have to say to their
patients: 'I'm sorry, we can't do anything for
you".
Margaret Chan was awarded the 2009 Príncipe
de Asturias Award for International Cooperation.