Quotes by Margaret Chan

About Margaret Chan:

Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun is the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO). Chan was elected by the Executive Board of WHO on 8 November 2006, and was endorsed in a special meeting of the World Health Assembly on the following day. Chan has previously served as Director of Health in the Hong Kong Government (1994–2003), representative of the WHO Director-General for Pandemic Influenza and WHO Assistant Director-General for Communicable Diseases (2003–2006). As of 2014, she is ranked as the 30th most powerful woman in the world according to Forbes.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

I think U.N. organizations are important organizations. They exist for good reasons. And we also admit that there is room for us to improve the way we do business. The WHO will be a very positive and proactive partner in the overall U.N. reform, whic...

Margaret Chan

New diseases like SARS and bird flu cause anxiety in the community. People get worried, some to the extent that it even affects their health. You feel very sad, and yet you must carry on and maintain your cool in very trying and difficult moments. Yo...

Margaret Chan

A health system that lacks commodities for managing high-mortality infectious diseases and the main killers of mothers and young children will not have an adequate impact. By the same token, even the best-stocked delivery system will have an inadequa...

Margaret Chan

Tobacco is the only industry that produces products to make huge profits and at the same time damage the health and kill their consumers.

Margaret Chan

I want us to be judged by the impact we have on the health of the people of Africa and the health of women. Improvements in the health of the people of Africa and the health of women are key indicators of the performance of WHO. This is a health orga...

Margaret Chan

The WHO is the lead agency in health in the United Nations system, and clearly we have very important functions to play.

Margaret Chan

SARS was a very important event... And many countries have learned from SARS... The SARS event sort of gave them additional impetus and the sense of urgency for them to really revise the International Health Regulations.

Margaret Chan

The International Health Partnership Plus is addressing the need to harmonize development assistance and reduce the current waste, duplication, and high transaction costs.

Margaret Chan

WHO has a country office in nearly every developing country, usually located close to the Ministry of Health. Staff in these offices need to do much more to help ministries of health strengthen their national health plans and strategies and then nego...

Margaret Chan

For the first time in history we can track the evolution of a pandemic in real time. Influenza viruses are notorious for their rapid mutation and unpredictable behaviour.

Margaret Chan

The unique nature about the influenza virus is its great potential for changes, for mutation.

Margaret Chan

At a time of multiple calamities in the world, we cannot allow the loss of essential antimicrobials, essential cures for many millions of people, to become the next global crisis.

Margaret Chan

Pandemic influenza is by nature an international issue; it requires an international solution.

Margaret Chan

What amazes me most is that the media and I have fostered a close relationship.

Margaret Chan

The way I look at - speaking as a woman - I understand what it means to be a daughter, and to be a wife, and to be a mother, and also to be a career woman. The multiple roles that women can play in a society if given the opportunity is really a treme...

Margaret Chan

All experts on WHO advisory groups for developing norms, standards and guidelines are required to disclose interests regarding the advisory committee's area of work. If a declared interest is potentially significant, then the expert is either exclude...

Margaret Chan

When WHO works with the private sector, the Organization takes all possible measures to ensure its work to develop policy and guidelines is protected from industry influence.

Margaret Chan

We need to empower women. Give women a voice in the decision-making process. Give women a political voice where they can champion, for their own welfare. And, of course, for us. United Nations - organizations, agencies - we need to do our part.

Margaret Chan

Author Bio

  • NameMargaret Chan
  • DescriptionDirector-General of the World Health Organization
  • AliasesChan Fung Fu-chun
  • Born1947
  • CountryPeople's Republic Of China
  • ProfessionPhysician; Civil Servant; Politician
  • AwardsOfficer Of The Order Of The British Empire