Election of the WHO Director-General
The Director-General is WHO’s chief technical and administrative officer.
The appointment of the current WHO Director-General took place at the Seventy-fifth World Health Assembly in May 2022.
Process and timelines
The process of electing the next Director-General begins when Member States are invited to submit proposals for candidates. The Executive Board nominates up to three candidates for consideration by the World Health Assembly, which then appoints the Director-General.
The current Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, was nominated by the Executive Board at its 150th session in January 2022, and that nomination was considered by the World Health Assembly in May of that year. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was re-elected and began his second term on 16 August 2022.
A Director-General can be re-appointed once.
Documentation related to the election process is available here.
