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Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland
Director-General
World Health Organization
Since she took up her position as Director General of the World Health
Organization in 1998, Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland has demonstrated a staunch
commitment to WHO's Global Polio Eradication Initiative. Most recently,
Dr Brundtland launched the 'Final Push for Polio Eradication: Every
Child Counts' on 6 January 2000 in India. With Ms Bellamy of UNICEF,
Dr Brundtland addressed a New Year's letter to heads of state of the
30 remaining polio-endemic countries, urging full co-operation and commitment
to the global effort.
Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland was born in Oslo, Norway, on 20 April 1939.
A medical doctor and Master of Public Health (MPH), Dr Brundtland spent
10 years as a physician and scientist in the Norwegian public health
system. For more than 20 years she was in public office in Norway, 10
of them as Prime Minister. Dr Brundtland was the youngest person and
the first woman ever to hold the office of Prime Minister in Norway.
In the 1980s she gained international recognition, championing the principle
of sustainable development as the chair of the World Commission of Environment
and Development (the Brundtland Commission). Dr Brundtland took office
as Director-General of the World Health Organization on 21 July 1998.
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