Margaret Chan Essay

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Introduction Accepting the top position at the World Health Organization, Dr. Chan summarized her vision for the organization and highlighted six issues that were to be of key focus during her term. These issues included: security, performance, health development, information and knowledge, capacity and partnership. Dr. Chan has a vast understanding of and international experience with communicable infections, chronic diseases, and health regulations. Dr. Margaret Chan took office as the World Health Organization (WHO) director General in January 2007. Why Dr. Margaret Chan was selected? Dr. Chan has been critical in her contribution to the WHO and health of the world. The 1997 and 2003 viral outbreaks put her at a distinctive position to deal with pandemic occurrences. She demonstrated that she was able to make critical decisions during tough times, while under extreme pressure from society. Her pragmatism is a great weapon for management of the WHO. The WHO director general herself has confessed that the two incidences made her understand that management of high pressure crisis was very delicate, due to the overall possibility of a pandemic outbreak. Dr. Margaret Chan’s profile has been elevated due to the way she handled various critical conditions of pandemic virus management in Hong Kong. In 1997, there was the avian influenza outbreak which caused devastation in the Asian nations. The virus made a leap to affect human beings and was fatal. A solution needed to be found quickly to prevent more citizens from dying. She helped calm the nation as the director of health. During the outbreak of SARS in Hong Kong, she acted smartly by ordering the slaughter of more that 1.5 million chickens. At least 299 people died following the incident. Dr. Chan received a lot of criticism for the way the incident was handled. At the time, the Hong Kong healthcare

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