Director of U.N. Health Group’s AIDS Effort Quits
GENEVA — The American director of the World Health Organization’s AIDS program resigned Friday, citing disagreements with the organization’s leader over a global strategy for combatting the fatal disease.
Dr. Jonathan Mann has led WHO’s fight against acquired immune deficiency syndrome since 1986. His resignation takes effect in June.
Mann said his decision to resign was prompted by differences with the agency’s director general, Dr. Hiroshi Nakajima.
“We have created the foundation and the structure of WHO’s critical and ongoing role in global AIDS prevention and control,” he wrote Nakajima in his letter of resignation.
“However, on the basis of my experience during the last two years, I have now come to the conclusion that there is a great variance between our positions on a series of issues which I consider critical for the global AIDS strategy and the WHO Global Program on AIDS.” he wrote.
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