[3] Jakab began her career in Hungary's Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in 1975, being responsible for external affairs, including relations with WHO.
Before this, as Director of Country Health Development, she was in charge of external relations and strategic partnerships: coordinating collaboration with the 51 Member States in the WHO European Region and international partners.
She played a key role in the negotiations leading up to the Fourth WHO Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health, held in Budapest in June 2004.
She was the Hungarian government's candidate[7] and succeeded Marc Danzon on 1 February 2010, becoming the first woman, the first central-eastern European and the first non-doctor to serve in this position.
In its judgement on the case, the Administrative Tribunal of the International Labour Organization (ILO) found that Jakab acted in "flagrant disregard of the complainant's rights.