Former Director-General: Dr Margaret Chan

WHO

Dr Margaret Chan was the Director-General of WHO, first appointed by the World Health Assembly on 9 November 2006. The Assembly appointed Dr Chan for a second five-year term at its sixty-fifth session in May 2012. Dr Chan's last term began on 1 July 2012 and ended on 30 June 2017.

Before being elected Director-General, Dr Chan was WHO Assistant Director-General for Communicable Diseases as well as Representative of the Director-General for Pandemic Influenza.

Prior to joining WHO, she was Director of Health in Hong Kong. During her nine-year tenure as director, Dr Chan confronted the first human outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza in 1997. She successfully defeated the spate of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in Hong Kong in 2003. She also launched new services to prevent disease and promote better health.

• Complete biography

Ten years in public health: Report by Director-General

A report that chronicles the evolution of global public health over the decade that Dr Margaret Chan has served as Director-General at WHO. The report opens with a letter from Dr Chan who offers her reflections on some of the highlights and challenges of the past 10 years working to build a better, healthier future for the world’s people.

• Full report: Ten years in public health 2007-2017
• Letter by Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General

Report in chapters

• From primary health care to universal coverage
• The neglected tropical diseases
• The power of vaccines
• Viral hepatitis
• Malaria
• Health security: is the world better prepared?
• Climate change, air pollution, and antimicrobial resistance
• Noncommunicable diseases
• Mental health, ageing, malnutrition, deaths on the roads, violence and disability
• HIV
• Towards ending tuberculosis
• Access to medicines
• Women, newborns, children, and adolescents