The Whole World In His Hands

World Health Organisation chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tackles the biggest challenge of his career – the Covid-19 pandemic

- Lavern De Vries

He's the face of the global response to the coronavirus pandemic – the man tasked with the unenviable job of leading the globe as it grapples with the worst health crisis in modern memory.

And Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organisation (WHO), has his work cut out for him. As chief of the global body, his primary role is to keep humankind safe by advising health services within the United Nations’ system and leading partners in international responses.

These days he’s likely getting little sleep. Ever since Covid-19 crossed borders and was declared a pandemic, his job requires 24-hour monitoring, deployment of medical staff, equipment and medicines, daily discussions with the affected countries, and media briefings.

It’s a daunting task – especially as there’s still so much to learn about this virulent beast. Scientists and researchers have been working around the clock to find out exactly how Covid-19 mutates to destroy lung tissue and to find a vaccine to halt it in its tracks.

For now, the only proven method has been to quarantine people, and it’s a message Tedros (55), who’s been at the helm of the WHO since 2017, has been drumming home.

At the time of publication, three billion people – more than a third of the world’s population – were either in partial or complete lockdown.

And still the death toll continues to rise. These are dark and terrifying times and Tedros has been doing his damnedest to try to stop people from falling into utter despair.