The World Health Organisation's (WHO) executive body has elected South Korea's Mr Jong Wook Lee to lead the UN health agency.
Mr Lee, a WHO insider who headed its tuberculosis programme, was chosen in a secret ballot of the 32-country executive board. He replaces former Norwegian premier Ms Gro Harlem Brundtland at the head of the board, which has an annual budget of $1 billion.
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Mr Lee (56) fought off challenges from Mozambique's Prime Minister Pascoal Mocumbi and Peter Piot, the head of UNAIDS.
If the World Health Assembly confirms his appointment at its May annual meeting, Mr Lee will take up his post in July.
Ms Brundtland, who had announced she would not seek a second five-year term, is credited with restoring the prestige of WHO after several controversies of the early 1990s.