Hiroshi Nakajima

was a Japanese doctor known chiefly for his tenure as Director-General of the World Health Organization.

Early life and education

He was born in Chiba, Japan, on 16 May 1928.

In 1955 Nakajima received his M.D. from Tokyo Medical University, Japan.

Professional life

Before 1974: France and Japan

From 1956 or 1958 to 1967 Nakajima worked at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research doing medical and pharmaceutical research.

During his leadership at WHO he notoriously had a conflict with then head of the WHO's Global Programme on AIDS (GPA), Jonathan Mann, which resulted in Mann's resignation. Mann thought Nakajima was not aggressive enough in his approach against AIDS. Much of the success of the Global Programme on AIDS was attributed to Mann, who also had autonomy over the Global Programme on AIDS, which Nakajima wanted to take away. Nakajima also limited Mann's budget and travel. Following Mann's resignation, the number of GPA staff dropped from more than 250 to four. This conflict and its impact on WHO's AIDS efforts has been documented as a part of the PBS Frontline documentary "The age of AIDS".

During his tenure, Nakajima was also accused of being a poor communicator and administrator.

During his first term in 1988, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative was launched. An audit was conducted that concluded in March and cleared Nakajima of misusing WHO's finances. Nakajima ran against Mohammed Abdelmoumène,

In 1997, Nakajima announced that he was not seeking another re-election and that his term of office would end in July 1998. He was replaced by Gro Harlem Brundtland of Norway, whose candidacy was supported by the United States and the European Union.

Death

Nakajima died after a short illness