Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland began serving a five-year term as Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) in July 1998. A physician and outspoken politician, Gro Harlem Brundtland had been instrumental in promoting political awareness of the importance of environmental issues. In her view, the world shares one economy and one environment. With her appointment to the head of WHO, Brundtland continued to work on global strategies to combat ill health and disease.

Brundtland began her political career as Oslo's parliamentary representative in 1977. She became the leader of the Norwegian Labor Party in 1981, when she first became prime minister. At 42, she was the youngest person ever to lead the country and the first woman to do so...