| Citation | Election of Dr. Tedros to an Honorary Fellowship would be an appropriate recognition of his outstanding career which has benefited health worldwide. It would also send a hugely positive signal as to the valuable contribution of Africa to the global scientific endeavour.
Tedros graduated in biology at the University of Asmara in 1986 and obtained an MSc in the immunology of infectious diseases at the London School of Hygiene in 1992. His early, widely cited research in Ethiopia focused on the control of malaria and he showed that construction of small dams for irrigation increased the risk of schistosomiasis and malaria. This research on malaria, led to a highly praised PhD from the University of Nottingham in 2000, and has helped to ensure that health issues are now taken into consideration in the planning and construction of new dams.
Tedros joined the Ministry of Health shortly after his first degree and held various positions in Tigray and in the Federal Government, whilst pursuing his malaria research. He rose rapidly within the Ministry, becoming Minister of Health in 2005, a post he held with distinction, and was recognised widely, as one of the most effective Ministers of Health in Africa. Among his achievements as Minister was reactivation of Ethiopia’s primary health care system with the training of tens of thousands of clinical assistants who provide access to health care for the many remote populations in Ethiopia, an approach which was highly innovative for sub-Saharan Africa and which has been much admired. His comprehensive reform of the country’s health system saw child mortality reduce by two thirds, HIV infections by 90%, malaria mortality by 75% and mortality from tuberculosis by 64%. His success soon led to him taking on a major international role in global health. In 2007, he was elected chairman of the Board of the Rollback Malaria (RBM) partnership which has played a key role in the fight against malaria and made a major contribution to the halving of malaria deaths in the past two decades. In 2009-11, he held the important and influential position of Chair of the Global Fund and served as chair of the Programme Coordination Board of UNAIDS.
In 2011 Tedros was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs. For the past decade, Ethiopia has been one of the focuses of the Royal Society’s work in Africa, in particular using funding from Pfizer to catalyse the founding of the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences in 2010. Shortly after his appointment as Foreign Minister, Tedros visited Carlton house Terrace to meet our Foreign Secretary and to discuss the Academy, which has since received strong and sustained support from the Ethiopian government to become one of the more effective academies in Africa. Its Executive Director recently (Oct 2019) was elected Co-Chair of the global Interacademy Partnership Policy.
In 2017, Tedros was the first African to be elected Director of the World Health Organisation. Almost immediately, he was faced with a new Ebola epidemic in the DRC and then with one of the most demanding tasks to face any WHO Director, namely leading the world’s response to the COVID19 epidemic. Although WHO has faced some criticism, it is widely accepted that Tedros has shown a high level of leadership in ensuring that WHO has, within its resources, played a major role in containing the epidemic, especially in low and middle income countries.
Tedros has maintained his links with the UK, for example receiving Honorary Degrees at both Nottingham and Newcastle in 2019. He has always emphasised the importance of basing public health policy on sound science and throughout his career he has supported the scientific research community as strongly as he can, first in Ethiopia, and then more recently worldwide.
For some time medical and biomedical science has been the subject of The Royal Society’s Africa Prize. Therefore, it would be particularly appropriate for us to honour Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, an African who has made such a contribution to health both in Africa and worldwide. |