Ethiopian wins race to be next leader of UN health agency

Delegates, health ministers and other high-level envoys chose Tedros over Britain's Dr. David Nabarro, a U.N. veteran, in the third and final round of voting.

The director-general of WHO wields considerable power in setting medical priorities that affect billions of people and declaring when crises like disease outbreaks evolve into global emergencies.

Of the U.N. health agency's 194 member states, 185 were eligible to cast ballots; nine others either were in arrears on their dues or not represented at the gathering.

The former health minister has been dogged by allegations — from one of his rival Nabarro's advisers — that he covered up cholera outbreaks in Ethiopia, and protesters have occasionally interrupted proceedings at the meeting in Geneva this week.

Frieden wrote a letter published in the New York Times last week that commended Tedros for his creation of a network of 40,000 female health workers that implemented programs to save people from dying of diarrhea and other causes.