New York Times: Letter to the Editor: A Qualified Candidate for Head of the WHO
Thomas R. Frieden, physician and director of the CDC from 2009-2017

“Although not optimal, many countries report cholera to the World Health Organization as acute watery diarrhea, as Ethiopia has. This allows reporting and response without laboratory confirmation, but in no way indicates that Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, a former health minister of Ethiopia, is any less qualified to become director general of the WHO. Multiple independent evaluations have confirmed that under Dr. Tedros’s leadership, Ethiopia is one of the few countries in Africa to have rapidly reduced infant mortality and achieved the Millennium Development Goal in this area. … Dr. Tedros created a network of nearly 40,000 female community health workers who were trained, supported, and supervised to implement programs, including oral rehydration therapy, that prevent death from diarrhea and other causes. As director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, I traveled to Ethiopia several times and saw impressive progress strengthening community health, improving hospital care, and establishing disease-tracking systems. The world would be safer and healthier if WHO facilitates this type of progress in more countries” (5/15).