Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has been made a "goodwill ambassador" by the World Health Organisation, despite having long faced sanctions over his government's human rights abuses.

Key points: The US has imposed targeted sanctions and travel bans on Mr Mugabe since 2003

The US has imposed targeted sanctions and travel bans on Mr Mugabe since 2003 A 2008 report stated Mr Mugabe's policies led to a crisis in health system

A 2008 report stated Mr Mugabe's policies led to a crisis in health system His appointment was condemned by two dozen health organisations

With Mr Mugabe on hand, WHO director-general Tedros Ghebreyesus told a conference in Uruguay this week on non-communicable diseases that he had agreed to be a "goodwill ambassador" on the issue.

Mr Tedros, an Ethiopian who became WHO's first African director-general this year, said Mr Mugabe could use the role "to influence his peers in his region".

In his speech, Mr Tedros described Zimbabwe as "a country that places universal health coverage and health promotion at the centre of its policies to provide health care to all".

Two dozen organisations — including the World Heart Federation, Action Against Smoking and Cancer Research UK — released a statement slamming the appointment, saying health officials were "shocked and deeply concerned" and citing his "long track record of human rights violations".

The groups said they had raised their concerns with Mr Tedros on the sidelines of the conference, to no avail.

Failures in health system well-documented

Zimbabwe was once was known as southern Africa's prosperous breadbasket.

But in 2008, the charity Physicians for Human Rights released a report documenting failures in Zimbabwe's health system, saying that Mr Mugabe's policies had led to a man-made crisis.

"The government of Robert Mugabe presided over the dramatic reversal of its population's access to food, clean water, basic sanitation and health care," the group concluded.

"The Mugabe regime has used any means at its disposal, including politicising the health sector, to maintain its hold on power."

The report said Mr Mugabe's policies led directly to "the shuttering of hospitals and clinics, the closing of its medical school and the beatings of health workers".

The US in 2003 imposed targeted sanctions, a travel ban and an asset freeze against Mr Mugabe and close associates, citing his government's rights abuses and evidence of electoral fraud.

UN agencies typically choose celebrities as ambassadors to draw attention to issues of concern, but they hold little actual power.

AP