Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the Rt. Hon. Gordon Brown has been appointed as WHO Ambassador for Global Health Financing.
This announcement was made earlier today by the World Health Organization.
In the publication released, the former Prime Minister’s achievements during his tenure were listed. He has been widely credited with preventing a second Great Depression through his stewardship of the 2009 London G20 summit.
In addition, he mobilized the world leaders to commit an additional $1.1 trillion to restore credit, growth, and jobs to help the world economy through the global financial crisis.
According to the publication, recently, Mr Gordon Brown has continuously called on wealthy nations as well as the private sector to ensure the equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, in an effort to make sufficient vaccines available to low and middle-income countries.
Additionally, he has advocated for a concerted global effort, based on science and sound economics, to save lives, end the pandemic and restore livelihoods across the world.
What they are saying
The WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, praised the former British PM for his efforts in motivating the world’s major economies to protect health and prevent future disease outbreaks. He further stated that the new Ambassador will aid efforts to create and raise awareness on global health financing.
In his words, “I am delighted and honoured that Gordon Brown has agreed to serve as WHO Ambassador for Global Health Financing. In this role, he will elevate and support WHO’s work to raise awareness internationally on the great need for sustained global health financing, particularly from G20 and G7 countries. As a longtime friend of Gordon’s, I know that he will bring his sharp intellect, firm commitment and deep sense of justice to this Ambassadorship.”
In response, the newly appointed Ambassador, Mr Brown expressed gratitude for the opportunity.
He stated, “I have tremendous personal regard for Dr Tedros with whom I first worked two decades ago, and I am delighted to be able to help him and WHO’s work on raising global finance to ensure everyone has access to health. Our immediate task is to work together to finance the vaccination of the whole world and protect the poorest countries from the terrible effects of COVID-19 and other diseases.”