In his opening remarks to the Seventy-second World Health Assembly, WHO Director General, Dr Tedros announced the appointment of prominent international footballer Alisson Becker as WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Health Promotion.

Alisson Becker is the goalkeeper of the Brazil and Liverpool football teams and an advocate for promoting physical activity, particularly of children.

Alisson Becker is also the husband of fellow WHO Goodwill Ambassador for health promotion, Dr Natália Loewe Becker, a medical doctor and health advocate from Brazil. 

Health promotion is central to efforts to promote healthy lives and guide communities and countries to provide the systems and services needed to ensure people can achieve the highest levels of health and wellbeing.

In his opening remarks to the Seventy-second World Health Assembly, WHO Director General, Dr Tedros announced the appointment of Dr Natália Loewe Becker as WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Health Promotion.

Dr Becker is a medical doctor and health advocate from Brazil. She is passionate about promoting childhood immunization, nutrition, healthy lifestyles for children and improving sanitation in local communities.

Dr Becker is also the wife of fellow WHO Goodwill Ambassador for health promotion, footballer Alisson Becker, who is the goalkeeper of the Brazil and Liverpool football teams.

Health promotion is central to efforts to promote healthy lives and guide communities and countries to provide the systems and services needed to ensure people can achieve the highest levels of health and wellbeing.

In May 2019, the WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, appointed prominent mental health advocate, Cynthia Germanotta, to serve as a WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Mental Health. 

In this role, Mrs Germanotta will raise awareness of the importance of mental health, help mobilize the international community to promote mental health and engage in global mental health campaigns.

Mrs Germanotta is President of Born This Way Foundation, which she co-founded with her daughter Lady Gaga in 2012, with the goal of supporting the wellness of young people and empowering them to build a kinder, braver world. Under Mrs Germanotta’s leadership, Born This Way Foundation has connected with tens of thousands of young people across the country and around the world, launched innovative youth-focused programming, and conducted cutting edge research to improve the understanding of mental wellness.

Mrs Germanotta, Lady Gaga, and Born This Way Foundation have been the recipient of numerous honors from organizations including the National Council for Behavioral Health, the Family Online Safety Institute, the National Association of School Psychologists, the Anti-Defamation League, Teachers College - Columbia University, and Logo.

Mrs Germanotta is a former telecommunications executive whose career in sales and management spanned twenty-five years. A graduate of West Virginia University, she went on to earn her Masters Degree in Public Administration from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Mrs Germanotta was born and raised in West Virginia and now resides in New York City.

Yohei Sasakawa is Chairman of The Nippon Foundation, a private, non-profit foundation established in 1962 for the purpose of carrying out philanthropic activities, using revenue from motorboat racing. He was appointed as a WHO Goodwill Ambassador in May 2001.

Sasakawa describes the elimination of leprosy as his life’s work. He spends almost one third of every year visiting endemic countries, meeting with political leaders to seek their political commitment to reduce the leprosy burden, liaising with health authorities and frontline health workers, talking to people affected by leprosy, supporting the reintegration of people affected by leprosy into mainstream society and making himself available to the media in order to raise public awareness of the issue.

Meanwhile, he has initiated campaigns and projects to end discrimination and other human rights violations faced by millions of people affected by leprosy around the world. His active lobbying efforts at the United Nations led to his appointment as Japanese Government Goodwill Ambassador for the Human Rights of People Affected by Leprosy.

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In his opening remarks to the Seventy-second World Health Assembly, WHO Director General, Dr Tedros announced the appointment of Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as Goodwill Ambassador for the health workforce. 

H.E Johnson-Sirleaf is a Nobel Peace Laureate; a health workforce champion, a voice for freedom and an advocate for health for all. Following the Ebola epidemic in Liberia in 2015, she oversaw the expansion of Primary Health Care and the creation of more than 4,000 new health worker jobs as part of the post-Ebola response. 

As Africa’s first elected female Head of State, H.E. Johnson Sirleaf has become a popular symbol of democracy, leadership and gender equity, not only in her own country but throughout Africa and the developing world. She continues to champion women and economic empowerment, particularly women in leadership and politics.

The health workforce agenda is central to progress towards SDG 3,4,5,8,10. Engaging H.E Johnson Sirleaf as a WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Health Workforce, will position new momentum on investing in the education and employment of health workers, particularly women, to achieve universal health coverage and the SDGs.

Professor Takemi is an internationally renowned advocate on global health and development. He was the State Secretary for Foreign Affairs of Japan in 1998-1999 and the Senior Vice Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan in 2006-2007. As the son of prominent physician and scientist Dr Taro Takemi, he has a strong interest in health and welfare, and played an important role negotiating reform of the Japanese health system and the introduction of the elderly care insurance scheme in 2000.

Professor Takemi taught international politics at Tokai University, Japan, since 1995 and was Harvard School of Public Health Research Fellow from 2007-2009. Since 2007, as a senior fellow of Japan Center for International Exchange (JCIE), he has led a high-level working group advocating for Japan’s collective action on global health.