SANTIAGO – Chile’s President Michelle Bachelet has agreed to chair the World Health Organization’s Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health after she will be succeeded by Sebastian Piñera in March.
Bachelet, who led UN Women between her first and second terms as Chile’s head of state, accepted the proposal by PMNCH’s Flavia Bustreo to succeed Nelson Mandela’s widow, Graça Machel, at the helm of the partnership.
La Presidenta Michelle Bachelet aceptó liderar el programa Alianza para la Salud Materna, del Recién Nacido y del Niño de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) @mbachelet @PMNCH https://t.co/A4Hu7CUsE1 @PMNCH @UN_EWEC pic.twitter.com/jRkRzvChyH
— Flavia Bustreo (@FlaviaBustreo) January 11, 2018
She will carry out her duties for the WHO from Chile, Bachelet, herself a pediatrician and epidemiologist, told people at an event in Bahia Inglesa, 850 kilometers north (528 miles) of Santiago.
“The truth is that I’m going to stay in my country because I love my country and because I believe that one must continue to contribute to the degree of one’s possibilities. And because I’m available to defend all the reforms we have made and which are about benefits for you,” the center-left president said.
Last year in October, Bachelet opened two hospitals in Puerto Aysén, Aysén region (XI), and Salamanca municipality, in Coquimbo region (IV).
Last December, Ms. Bachelet became the first South American head of state to win the prestigious United Nations “Champions of the Earth” prize.
