WHO Goodwill Ambassador is an official postnominal honorific title,

title of authority Title of authority, title of office or title of command is the official designation of a position held in an organization (e.g. in government or corporation) associated with certain duties of authority. Semi-formally, the title of office may be r ...

legal status Legal status is the status or position held by an entity as determined by the law. It includes or entails a set of privileges, obligations, powers or restrictions that a person or thing has as encompassed in or declared by legislation. Jack Balki ...

and

job description A job description or JD is a written narrative that describes the general tasks, or other related duties, and responsibilities of a position. It may specify the functionary to whom the position reports, specifications such as the qualifications ...

assigned to those goodwill ambassadors and

advocates An advocate is a professional in the field of law. Different countries' legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a barrister or a solicitor. However, ...

who are designated by the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

. WHO goodwill ambassadors are celebrity advocates of the

World Health Organization (WHO) The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of ...

and use their talent and fame to advocate for

health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...

and well-being.

Current WHO goodwill ambassadors

Current goodwill ambassadors, and the year they were appointed:

Cancellation of status

On 21 October 2017 the WHO Director-General

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus ( ti, ቴዎድሮስ አድሓኖም ገብረኢየሱስ, sometimes spelt ti, ቴድሮስ ኣድሓኖም ገብረየሱስ, label=none; born 3 March 1965) is an Ethiopian public health official, researcher, and ...

appointed

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

’s president

Robert Mugabe Robert Gabriel Mugabe (; ; 21 February 1924 – 6 September 2019) was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 and then as President from 1987 to 2017. He served as Leader of the ...

as a WHO goodwill ambassador to help tackle

non-communicable disease A non-communicable disease (NCD) is a disease that is not transmissible directly from one person to another. NCDs include Parkinson's disease, autoimmune diseases, strokes, most heart diseases, most cancers, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, os ...

s for Africa. The appointment address praised Mugabe for his commitment to public health in Zimbabwe. The naming attracted widespread condemnation in WHO member states and international organisations due to Mugabe's poor record on human rights and presiding over a decline in Zimbabwe's public health. Following widespread criticism, Tedros Adhanom was forced to withdraw the appointment (cancel the title) the next day.

References

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External links

WHO Goodwill Ambassadors
World Health Organization Goodwill ambassador programmes United Nations goodwill ambassadors

Current WHO goodwill ambassadors

Cancellation of status

See also

References

External links