Dr. Lee Jong-wook.(new director of the World Health Organization)(Interview)

Leading the troops at the World Health Organization has never been an easy job. Now 58-year-old Dr. Lee Jong-wook wants to make it a dirty one, too. On July 21 Lee will replace former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem as director-general of the world's foremost health institution. The former leprosy doctor from South Korea has an ambitious agenda: more field work and less bureaucracy, which may not sit so well with the international technocrats back at WHO headquarters in Geneva--especially since he wants to move more manpower out into the field to needy countries and give them a larger share of the budget. Lee spoke to NEWSWEEK's Alexandra A. Seno before taking command. Excerpts:

How is the WHO coping these days?

The organization is better off in terms of financial health [and] international reputation. This was demonstrated during the SARS epidemic and with the international convention on tobacco control, where 40 countries signed [on]. I'd like to do more for HIV/AIDS, with 27 million infected people in the African continent, in China, in India, throughout Asia. I'd like to send more human and financial resources to the countries. We should not be seen as the bureaucratic organization. We should be seen as an organization where we dirty our hands in the field.

Will you lobby for more money?

Of course, but not for WHO. This money should be available either as a direct contribution by the rich world to the poor countries though [a] bank, through the WHO, through a fund or U.N. aid.

What are some top priorities of your term?

I'd like to put 3 million people on anti-retroviral treatment in two years' time. And I'd like to achieve polio eradication during my tenure.