New WHO Regional Director for Europe nominated

The Director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has been nominated as the new WHO Regional Director for Europe at a meeting in Copenhagen.
Hungarian Zsuzsanna Jakab was one of five candidates for the post; the others being from Georgia, Greece, Italy and the Netherlands.
She is scheduled to take up her new position on February 1 next, succeeding Dr Marc Danzon, who has served as the Regional Director for Europe for the past 10 years.
The appointment is subject to confirmation by the WHO’s global Executive Board next January.
Prior to joining the ECDC in 2005, Jakab was Secretary of State in Hungary’s Ministry of Health, and before that worked at the WHO Regional Office for Europe in Denmark for 11 years.
Under Mrs Jakab’s leadership, the ECDC has become an essential EU Agency providing technical and scientific advice and supporting the European Commission and EU Member States in responding to public health threats, including the current Pandemic (H1N1) 2009.
The European Commission has already initiated the recruitment procedure for a new ECDC Director, since the five-year mandate was due to expire in 2010. -D.G.