On 23 October, the Chair of the Board, the Executive Director and partners of Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), sent an open letter, which relates to the landmark World Health Organization (WHO) R&D Resolution 59.24, to all candidates for the WHO Director-General position.

We wish to remind the 13 WHO Director-General candidates that the WHO, in living up to its institutional mandate, now has the imperative to play a leading role in prioritizing and creating an environment more conducive to innovative, needs-driven medical research. We hope for comments from the candidates in the coming days and will keep you posted online.

The election of the WHO Director-General took place in Geneva from 6-9 November 2006.