By Imogen Foulkes
BBC News, Geneva
The 'unassuming' leader
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
Born in Asmara in 1965
Completed PhDin community health in 2000
Health minister2005-2012
Foreign minister 2012-2016
Elected WHO director general in 2017
Source: WHO
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus: The Ethiopian at the heart of the coronavirus fight
By Imogen Foulkes
BBC News, Geneva 4 March 2020
Composite of images of Dr TedrosImage copyright AFP
What a challenge to be the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) in the time of the coronavirus.
The entire planet hanging on your every word, addressing daily press conferences at the headquarters in Geneva to detail an ever increasing number of cases in an ever increasing number of countries.
This is the lot of Ethiopian Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the first African head of the WHO, who took office two-and-a-half years ago promising to reform the organisation, and to tackle the illnesses that kill millions each year: malaria, measles, childhood pneumonia, or HIV/Aids.
And yet, while the WHO is undoubtedly working hard on those illnesses, Dr Tedros' time in office has been dominated first by Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and now by Covid-19.
Both have been declared Public Health Emergencies of International Concern, or PHEICs.
BBC: