In April, Dr Jim Yong Kim was officially announced as the next president of the World Bank starting on July 1st, 2012. The choice was not unanimous within the 25-member board as Dr. Kim won the job over Ms Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s finance minister. Ms Okonjo-Iweala was supported by Brazil and South Africa and the choice of Dr Kim left some low and middle-income countries frustrated with the decision.
Although the tradition of having an American as the president of the World Bank has continued, the Dr Kim’s profile is somewhat different than past presidents. He is a medical doctor who is president of Dartmouth College. He is also an anthropologist and a global health expert who served as a Chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Director of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Department of HIV/AIDS.
So how could a global health expert and an anthropologist be the president of the World Bank? As its main purpose is reduction of poverty, investment promotion and balanced growth, an economist is seemingly a more logical candidate. However, it needs to be more than an economist to lead the World Bank, as the President Obama stated: “I am confident that Dr. Kim will be an inclusive leader who will bring to the Bank a passion for and deep knowledge of development, a commitment to sustained economic growth, and the ability to respond to complex challenges and seize new opportunities”. Dr. Kim was also selected as one of America’s “25 Best Leaders” by US News and World Report and one of TIME Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World”.
The current Global Health context
While President Obama’s budget proposal for the fiscal year 2013 cuts more than $500,000 from the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the US is increasing its reliance on partners in treatment programs like the Global Fund, which is facing a funding shortfall and has no plans to make new funding available until 2014. The WHO is facing one of its most serious crisis since its creation in 1946; it faces a 20% budget decrease and 12.5% of its staff members have been laid off. Although Bill Gates has pledged $750 Million to fill the gap, this is only a temporary solution in tandem with current reforms at the Organization. In light of recent difficulties in global health architecture, having a global health expert as the president of World Bank may be good news.
The Work Bank has increasingly been an actor in global health, having provided $24 billion in health sector-specific and multisectoral programs to reach the Millennium Development Goals since 2000 and having been involved in other multi-lateral and multi-sector partnerships such as the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI Alliance) and Roll Back Malaria, amongst others.
World Bank’s potential leading role in Global Health
The Bank’s global strategy is to invest in health systems. It has provided significant aid to advance the areas of health technologies and medicines, yet many challenges remain there, such as poor infrastructures and unsustainable financing. These challenges could have harmful consequences on fragile states, who mainly dependent on technical assistance or funding from the WHO, GF and PEPFAR.
Dr Kim’s election could certainly make a difference, as he is a founder of Partners In Health, which focuses on community health programs for impoverished nations. He is also an anthropologist with experience in development. Knowing the current global financial cuts and the potential harmful consequences that could follow, the appointment of someone with a health background, rather than a finance one, will certainly impact upon the current global health architecture. The question is how.
In April, Dr Jim Yong Kim was officially announced as the next president of the World Bank starting on July 1st, 2012. The choice was not unanimous within the 25-member board as Dr. Kim won the job over Ms Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s finance minister. Ms Okonjo-Iweala was supported by Brazil and South Africa and the choice of Dr Kim left some low and middle-income countries frustrated with the decision.
Although the tradition of having an American as the president of the World Bank has continued, the Dr Kim’s profile is somewhat different than past presidents. He is a medical doctor who is president of Dartmouth College. He is also an anthropologist and a global health expert who served as a Chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Director of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Department of HIV/AIDS.
So how could a global health expert and an anthropologist be the president of the World Bank? As its main purpose is reduction of poverty, investment promotion and balanced growth, an economist is seemingly a more logical candidate. However, it needs to be more than an economist to lead the World Bank, as the President Obama stated: “I am confident that Dr. Kim will be an inclusive leader who will bring to the Bank a passion for and deep knowledge of development, a commitment to sustained economic growth, and the ability to respond to complex challenges and seize new opportunities”. Dr. Kim was also selected as one of America’s “25 Best Leaders” by US News and World Report and one of TIME Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World”.
The current Global Health context
While President Obama’s budget proposal for the fiscal year 2013 cuts more than $500,000 from the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the US is increasing its reliance on partners in treatment programs like the Global Fund, which is facing a funding shortfall and has no plans to make new funding available until 2014. The WHO is facing one of its most serious crisis since its creation in 1946; it faces a 20% budget decrease and 12.5% of its staff members have been laid off. Although Bill Gates has pledged $750 Million to fill the gap, this is only a temporary solution in tandem with current reforms at the Organization. In light of recent difficulties in global health architecture, having a global health expert as the president of World Bank may be good news.
The Work Bank has increasingly been an actor in global health, having provided $24 billion in health sector-specific and multisectoral programs to reach the Millennium Development Goals since 2000 and having been involved in other multi-lateral and multi-sector partnerships such as the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI Alliance) and Roll Back Malaria, amongst others.
World Bank’s potential leading role in Global Health
The Bank’s global strategy is to invest in health systems. It has provided significant aid to advance the areas of health technologies and medicines, yet many challenges remain there, such as poor infrastructures and unsustainable financing. These challenges could have harmful consequences on fragile states, who mainly dependent on technical assistance or funding from the WHO, GF and PEPFAR.
Dr Kim’s election could certainly make a difference, as he is a founder of Partners In Health, which focuses on community health programs for impoverished nations. He is also an anthropologist with experience in development. Knowing the current global financial cuts and the potential harmful consequences that could follow, the appointment of someone with a health background, rather than a finance one, will certainly impact upon the current global health architecture. The question is how.
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