UN global health agency chief Dr Margaret Chan wins second term

Dr Margaret Chan, who has steered the World Health Organization through crises over bird flu and the respiratory SARS bug, has won a second five-year term as its director-general.

The World Health Assembly, which oversees the UN health agency, reappointed Chan, during a closed-door session today. She ran unopposed.

An agency statement quoted Chan, who has Chinese nationality, as saying she will fight for universal health coverage as "the single most powerful concept that public health has to offer. It is a powerful equalizer."

Chan, a Canadian-trained medical doctor who was health director in Hong Kong before going to work for WHO in 2003, also was quoted as saying that uncertainty over international health funding is a top priority.