As the sole candidate in the election fray, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus could be elected unopposed for the post of director-general of the World Health Organization(WHO), the organization announced Friday.

"A single candidate was proposed by member states by the September 23, 2021 deadline: Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus," the WHO said in a statement.

Dr. Tedros was elected to the WHO leadership in 2017, and his five-year term expires in August 2022. 

During his tenure, he has led the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the worst public health crisis witnessed in a century. The virus has killed nearly 5 million people worldwide, according to the latest data from the WHO.

Around 28 countries have nominated Dr. Tedros, the UN health agency said. Nearly 17 European Union members, including Austria, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden, supported his candidature.

Germany and Spain's nominations said strengthening the WHO in the wake of the pandemic "must continue with full and undivided commitment," saying the organization needed "strong, pragmatic and visionary leadership."

The WHO statement showed that outside the EU, Bahrain, Barbados, Botswana, Cook Islands, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Oman, Rwanda, Tonga and Trinidad and Tobago proposed Tedros.

Indonesia said the world was still overcoming the pandemic "and needs a continued leadership within the WHO."

Kenya, Oman and Rwanda said it was their deep belief that Tedros "is ideally placed to continue in the role."

First African to head WHO

Tedros, 56, was the first African national elected as WHO director-general in May 2017.

He graduated with a biology degree in his homeland before completing a master's in the immunology of infectious diseases and a doctorate in community health in Britain.

He worked as a field-level malariologist in Ethiopia before leading a regional health bureau and then joining the government, working his way up the ministerial ranks.

He has been the public face of the WHO since the COVID-19 crisis began and is relatively popular due to his role in steering the organization's efforts to coordinate the pandemic response.

Tedros continually raises his voice against inequity in the global vaccine rollout and urges countries to "do it all" to bring the pandemic under control.

He has also faced criticism after a devastating report of alleged rape and sexual assault by workers sent to fight Ebola in DR Congo between 2018 and 2020. A report found that 21 WHO employees were involved in such abuses.

Job 'not yet done'

In his application letter, Tedros said the "demands lying ahead have made me more determined than ever."

He said that under his leadership, a transformed and more prominent WHO "has withstood the greatest test of a century to steer the world through an unprecedented health crisis."

But he stressed: "Our job is not yet done. COVID-19 has ravaged the world and left much to be rebuilt. It has also shone a spotlight on WHO's many needs."

Tedros wants to reinforce global public health defences "to ensure the world is truly ready to prevent, prepare for and respond to another crisis of the nature of Covid-19 or worse."

Member states will formally vote for the next WHO chief in a secret ballot in May 2022 during the 75th World Health Assembly, the organization's annual meeting of member states.

(With input from agencies)