Who is Song Li? China puts her forward for WHO leadership role

On Thursday, China nominated health official Song Li to lead the World Organization putting her forward to succeed Director General-Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

According to Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning, if Song Li is elected, it will help the WHO play a significant role in improving global health and the well-being of humanity.

Beijing has proactively expanded its scope within UN agencies and other multilateral bodies and the United States under Trump is phasing out its engagement with the UN and some of its participating bodies.

Dr.Song is a senior public health official with twenty years of experience in maternal and child health policy and international cooperation. She played an active role in spearheading country-level health crisis management including SARS, bird flu outbreaks and COVID-19.

Notably, she was also editor in chief of a COVID-19 prevention and control paper in 2020 to establish federal guidelines for overseeing maternal and pediatric care throughout the pandemic.

The Trump administration has relentlessly denounced the WHO’s handling of the pandemic and accused it of bias toward China where COVID-19 originated. The WHO will release the final list of nominees after the Executive Board in early November.