Indonesia’s WHO chief pick urges US to rejoin the agency
Indonesia’s candidate to lead the World Health Organization has urged the United States to rejoin the agency. Health minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin told Reuters the US should return after its exit at the start of this year.
“Many member states feel that the US should be back,” he said in an interview. “The US should be back.”
Budi is one of six candidates seeking to replace Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as WHO director-general. The other nominees come from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Botswana and Belgium.
The United States officially withdrew in January. It was the agency’s top donor. President Donald Trump accused the WHO of mishandling COVID. The organisation denies the claim.
Budi is a banker by training. He worked at IBM and Indonesia’s Bank Mandiri. He became health minister in 2020. He led the COVID vaccination drive for Indonesia’s 280 million people.
He is the only candidate without a health-sector background. He said he knows US health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. personally. “We can talk easily and the connection is there,” he added.
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