Philippe Douste-Blazy wishes to strengthen the political role of the WHO in the fight against non-communicable diseases, such as obesity and diabetes.
Margaret Chan, Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), will relinquish her seat next May. To succeed him, France supports the candidacy of one of its compatriots, the French Philippe Douste-Blazy. The former Minister of Health (2004-2005) under the presidency of Jacques Chirac, began to unveil his maps of his program.
“We used to say that life expectancy has been increasing for 40 years. But it will start to drop, because if you have 20% of diabetics (in some regions), whereas there were only 5% 20 years ago, you will start to have complications ”, he added. he declared to Agence France Presse (AFP). We do not have the same standards for sugar, salt and fat in every country in the world. It’s up to the WHO to do that. In the Gulf countries, 75% of the population is overweight and already has 20 to 22% of diabetes “, he regretted, concluding that” it is a statistical disaster, but it will gradually become a problem. political priority ”.
Increase the price of sugary drinks
Far from any fatalism, Philippe Douste-Blazy thus declares himself in favor of an increase in the price of tobacco and sugary drinks, “the only thing that works today”, according to him. “WHO has said there will be more noncommunicable diseases than infectious diseases in 2030, for the first time in human history. It is the leading cause of death in the world, ”recalled this trained cardiologist.
The one who is today special advisor at the UN on Innovative Financing for Development also plans to restructure the Organization, by creating a department dedicated to innovative financing, on the model of UNITAID, which he chairs. Founded by France and Brazil thanks to a tax on airline tickets, the organization helps finance the fight against HIV, tuberculosis and malaria through prevention, treatment and diagnosis.
A model that he would like to reproduce since he plans to involve certain countries, by levying a tax on each barrel of oil, each gram of gold or pound of uranium to finance their public health budget. The former Minister of Culture and Foreign Affairs also wants to convince laboratories to continue producing old but still effective drugs and to develop drugs that are not profitable. “The WHO must put in place purchase guarantees,” he told these journalists.
French opponents
In this competition for the head of the WHO, Philippe Douste-Blazy is opposed to three men and two women. One of his main rivals is Dr David Nabarro who highlights his experience within the WHO where he has worked since 1999 and where he was notably in charge of the fight against the Ebola virus. “You really have to know the system from the inside out if you plan to change it,” he said at a press conference. A tackle in the direction of the French candidate.
What the latter immediately responded by acknowledging that he was not of the seraglio. But the former mayor of Toulouse sees this more as an advantage: “if you need someone capable of teaching public health to students, who has had public health responsibilities in a country like France, who has been able to create an international organization which now treats tens of millions of people after having lowered the price of drugs, so I may be starting to be a modest candidate who may be of interest ”, he said to AFP.
In January, the WHO Executive Board will nominate three candidates to be voted on by the World Health Assembly in May.
A candidate doctor
Philippe Douste-Blazy comes from a medical training: internal in Toulouse (Haute-Garonne), he also worked there as a cardiologist. It was also there that he obtained the title of professor of medicine, in 1988.
His medical career gradually became entangled with political life. He was thus Minister of Health on two occasions, from 1993 to 1995 and from 2004 to 2005. It was during his second term that he began a reform of health insurance, which saw in particular the emergence of the deductible. to one euro.
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