The World Health Organization's top decision-making World Health Assembly, composed of all 193 member states, Thursday voted in Margaret Chan as the next Director-General, confirming a nomination a day earlier by the 34-nation governing Executive Board.

"The people of Africa carry an enormous and disproportionate burden of ill health and premature death. The health of African people must therefore be a key indicator of the performance of the WHO," Chan said in a speech to the World Health Assembly after being approved as the new chief.

Chan added that the health of women must become the other indicator of the organization's work. "I do not mean just maternal health. Women do much more than have babies," she said.

"Their activities in households and communities, coupled with their low status, make them especially vulnerable to health problems -- from indoor air pollution and multiple infectious diseases to violence," she told the Assembly meeting.

"Reducing health problems in women and empowering them will result in a dramatic increase in health-promoting behaviors -- right where it counts most," she stressed.

Chan also mentioned other challenges facing world health, including infectious diseases and pandemic readiness.

Chan, 59, from China's Hong Kong SAR, will take office in January 2007 for a five-year term, the first Chinese national to head up a UN specialized body.

At a special session of the Assembly, 150 member countries voted in favor of Chan, with 2 against and 2 abstentions. Other member countries did not vote for various reasons, according to diplomatic concerns.

A two-thirds majority is required from the 193-strong Assembly for a nominee to be confirmed in the post.

The former Hong Kong health chief joined the WHO in 2003, and she had been the UN agency's assistant director-general for communicable diseases before announcing her campaign for the top post of director-general in July.

Her bid for the job was fully supported by the Chinese central government as well as the government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, without which she could not have won the election, Chan told reporters following her nomination on Wednesday.

The Chinese government said it had recommended Chan due to her solid professional background, strong leadership, and tremendous experience in public health.

Chan saw off Mexico's Health Minister Julio Frenk, WHO senior official Shigeru Omi of Japan, Spain's Health Minister Elena Salgado and another WHO official, Kuwait's Kazem Behbehani, to win the Executive Board nomination.

The WHO was established in 1948 with the objective of helping all peoples attain the highest possible level of health.

The profile of the organization has risen dramatically in recent years as the world struggles to deal with such health challenges as a threatened flu pandemic, AIDS, chronic illnesses and dilapidated healthcare in poor countries.

(Xinhua News Agency November 10, 2006)