The Director-General General of the World Health Organization has led tributes following the sudden death of Aidan O’Leary, who was leading global efforts to eradicate polio.
Geneva-based Aidan O’Leary, the director of the WHO’s Polio Eradication Programme since 2021, died suddenly while on a family holiday on Tuesday, aged 59.
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WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described him as “an outstanding humanitarian”.
”Today the WHO family is in mourning over the sudden passing of our dear friend and colleague, Aidan O’Leary, the Director of the WHO Polio Eradication Programme. Aidan died suddenly last night from natural causes while on holiday with his family,” he said.
“He was an outstanding humanitarian who served tirelessly in the most difficult parts of the world.”
Worldwide service
Mr O’Leary, who lived in Galway before relocating to Geneva, had vast experience of emergencies and public health crises and supported some of the world’s most vulnerable people in other emergency settings.
Before joining the WHO in 2021, he had served as head of office in Yemen for the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, a role he had also previously held in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as head of OCHA’s regional office for the Syria crisis.
He served as deputy director of operations for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) based in Gaza, and was chief of polio eradication for UNICEF, working in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the final two polio-endemic countries in the world.
Solidarity across borders
Dr Ghebreyesus said Mr O’Leary, who joined WHO in 2020, embodied the ideal of service and solidarity across peoples and borders.
“His passing is a terrible loss for WHO and for all of humanity, but most of all for his family and friends, in his native Ireland and throughout the world. On behalf of WHO, I extend my deepest condolences to them all,” he said.
”We will miss Aidan enormously, and we will remember him for his kindness, openness and friendliness. He was a gentle giant, in every sense.
”We are committed to continuing his legacy to realise his vision - and ours - of a polio-free world. Rest in peace, my dear friend. As the Irish say, Ar dheis dé go raibh a anam dilis.”
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