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Gro Brundtland

“We are individuals who are speaking without any outside pressures. In that context we can create the potential for change.”Read more

Biography

Few people have had an impact on society as global as Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, a medical doctor and Master of Public Health (MPH). She spent 10 years as a physician and scientist in the Norwegian public health system and served 20 years in public office, including 10 years as Prime Minister of Norway.

In the 1980s she gained international recognition, championing the principle of sustainable development as the Chair of the World Commission of Environment and Development (the Brundtland Commission).

Dr. Brundtland was aged just seven when she enrolled as a member of the Norwegian Labour Movement in its children's section. She has been a member ever since, and has led the Labour Party to electoral victory three times.

As a young mother and newly qualified doctor, she won a scholarship to the Harvard School of Public Health. There, working alongside distinguished public health experts, Dr. Brundtland's vision of extending health beyond the confines of the medical world into environmental issues and human development began to take shape.

In the ensuing decade, while also bringing up her children, Dr. Brundtland returned to Oslo and the Ministry of Health, and became Director of Health Services for Oslo's schoolchildren. In 1974, Dr. Brundtland became Minister of the Environment and received international recognition for her work.

In 1981, at 41 years old, she was appointed Prime Minister for the first time – the youngest person and the first woman to hold the office in Norway. She served more than 10 years as Head of Government over three terms until 1996. In 1998 she became Director-General of the World Health Organisation for five years until her retirement in 2003.

Since then, Dr. Brundtland has served on the Board of the United Nations Foundation and as Health Policy Fellow at Harvard University. She is also a member of the High Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change appointed by the UN Secretary General. In March 2007, she was appointed as Special Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General on Climate Change.