The World Health Organization's executive board, made up of representatives from 32 of its 192 members, yesterday narrowed the candidate list for a new WHO director general from eight to five, Reuters reports (Reuters, 1/21). According to Reuters, diplomats and sources said that the "leading" candidates are Pascoal Mocumbi, Mozambique's prime minister; Peter Piot, a Belgian epidemiologist who heads UNAIDS; and Jong Wook Lee, a South Korean who heads WHO's tuberculosis program (Nebehy, Reuters, 1/20). Other two candidates include Julio Frenk, Mexican health minister, and Egypt's former Health Minister Ismail Sallam (Reuters, 1/21). Current WHO Director-General Gro Harlem Brundtland will step down in June when her five-year term expires. The results of a secret ballot on Jan. 27 or Jan. 28 will determine which person will go before the annual World Health Assembly in May for approval (Reuters, 1/20).