The World Health Organization has chosen a new "goodwill ambassador" whose human rights abuses have left him with very little goodwill internationally: Robert Mugabe

The 93-year-old president of Zimbabwe was chosen by new WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to help fight non-communicable diseases like strokes and asthma across Africa. The appointment has been condemned by multiple governments and human rights groups since health care in Zimbabwe has collapsed under Mugabe's regime. In addition, Mugabe has been regularly leaving Zimbabwe to seek medical treatment elsewhere. "The decision to appoint Robert Mugabe as a WHO goodwill ambassador is deeply disappointing and wrong," says Dr. Jeremy Farrar of the Wellcome Trust, a British charitable foundation. "Robert Mugabe fails in every way to represent the values WHO should stand for." A group of around two dozen other health organizations said that they were shocked and deeply concerned by the appointment. A spokesman for Zimbabwean opposition party MDC described the appointment as laughable. "Mugabe trashed our health delivery system," he said.