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Secretary-General, it was with great anticipation
that this Assembly, on Monday, received the wonderful news that you
would pay us a visit this week. During these nine days we are focusing
intensely on crucial health problems that ravage our world. The issues
are vital to the future.
This is the first time a Secretary-General of the
United Nations has visited the World Health Assembly. On behalf of the
191 Member States of the World Health Organization, I warmly and
enthusiastically welcome you.
Secretary-General, you have shown strong personal
interest in ameliorating the unfolding drama of the AIDS crisis, and
added your voice to the call to Roll Back Malaria and other
devastating conditions linked to poverty.
In fact, it all started right here. Many here in
this hall may not know that you were once a staff member of WHO. Your
first job in the UN system was with us nearly forty years ago –
something that serves to illustrate the breadth of your experience and
background when you were elected to your high office, four and a half
years ago.
As I came here to Geneva and spoke to the World
Health Assembly in 1998, I made a strong call for Presidents and Prime
Ministers to be Health Ministers themselves.
Today, I feel deeply gratified that the
Secretary-General of our United Nations gives a strong demonstration
of that very principle. Health is key to all people and all nations,
their destiny and their future. The strong personal effort by Kofi
Annan in these crucial questions for humanity is a model of leadership
that can inspire us all. I know that you are committed to pursuing
this cause in the months and years to come.
We need such leadership at the helm of governments
and in our international system. When it is there, we know we really
can move forward and make a difference in peoples’ lives. |
