President Higgins received the Director General of the WHO, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, and Executive Director of the WHO, Dr. Michael Ryan, to Áras an Uachtaráin on a courtesy call.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was elected WHO Director-General for a five-year term by WHO Member States at the Seventieth World Health Assembly in May 2017. In doing so, he was the first WHO Director-General elected from among multiple candidates by the World Health Assembly, and was the first person from the WHO African Region to head the world’s leading public health agency.
President Higgins previously hosted Dr Michael Ryan at Áras an Uachtaráin in January 2022, to present him with a Presidential Distinguish Service Award, in recognition of his enormous service to global public health.