Hong Kong's former health director, who is running for the top post at the World Health Organisation, said on Wednesday that she would focus on chronic diseases such as AIDS and tuberculosis. Margaret Chan, who joined the WHO in 2003 and is now its assistant director-general for communicable diseases, said it would do well to remember that chronic diseases were responsible for 60 percent of the world's mortality. "Infectious diseases have the drama effect, the media effect ... the concentration is always on communicable diseases and this is something I would like to change a bit," Reuters quoted Chan as saying. She added that she would tackle chronic diseases like HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, maternal and child health issues, and environmental problems such as water and sanitation. The Geneva-based United Nations health agency will elect a new chief in November, following the death of WHO director-general Lee Jong-wook on May 22. So far, Chan and Shigeru Omi, WHO regional director for the Western Pacific who is from Japan, have declared their candidacy. Beijing, which took back Hong Kong from Britain in 1997, has hailed Chan's candidacy as an honour to China. It has also promised to bankroll her election campaign, which will take her to over 20 countries in the months ahead.
