After days of scathing criticism around the globe for naming Zimbabwe’s leader, Robert Mugabe, a “good-will ambassador” for health, the leader of the World Health Organization said on Sunday that he had rescinded the title.
In a statement, the W.H.O.’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said he had “reflected” on the appointment.
“I have listened carefully to all who have expressed their concerns, and heard the different issues that they have raised,” he said. “I have also consulted with the government of Zimbabwe and we have concluded that this decision is in the best interests of the World Health Organization.”
On Wednesday, at a global conference in Uruguay on noncommunicable diseases, Dr. Tedros, an Ethiopian and the first African to lead the United Nations’ health agency, said he was “honored” to be joined by Mr. Mugabe, 93, and appoint him an ambassador.
Dr. Tedros said the leader could use the role “to influence his peers in his region” when it came to fighting noncommunicable diseases — such as heart attacks, strokes and asthma — in Africa.
He also praised Zimbabwe as “a country that places universal health coverage and health promotion at the center of its policies to provide health care to all.”
The reaction was swift and unforgiving.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada joined a chorus of world leaders, the State Department, medical professionals and social media users who expressed outrage or puzzlement at the appointment.
Appearing in Edmonton on Saturday, Mr. Trudeau told reporters that he thought the choice of Mr. Mugabe was “a bad April Fool’s joke,” according to the local news media.
Twenty-eight health organizations, including the NCD Alliance — which works with the W.H.O. and other global groups to battle noncommunicable diseases — released a statement expressing “shock” at the appointment.
Obert Gutu, a spokesman for Zimbabwe’s main opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change, said, “It is an insult.” here
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