Good morning, good afternoon and good evening to friends and colleagues joining us today.
It is a privilege to convene this webinar with representatives of civil society from all over the world.
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COVID-19 continues its deadly path across the planet, as we all know. More than 11.5 million cases have now been reported to WHO and over 535,000 lives have been lost.
Our only hope to overcome this pandemic is by working in solidarity at the local, national, and international levels.
Civil society – all of you here today - has played a critical role since the outbreak began, highlighting the needs of the most vulnerable, fighting for an equitable response and holding decision-makers to account.
Yet, it is deeply worrying that a survey conducted by the Civil Society Engagement Mechanism of UHC2030 and the WHO Social Participation Technical Network has shown low engagement of civil society by many governments in their COVID-19 responses. We have also discussed this issue last time we met.
To succeed in pushing back this virus, we must urgently address that lack of engagement.
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WHO acknowledges that our own dialogue with civil society on COVID-19 could have begun earlier – a lot earlier.
That is why we are here today, for what is the first in a series of webinars that we plan to hold on your role in the response.
We will be listening carefully to what you say.
We want to hear examples of what is working on the ground as well as what the main obstacles are.
We want to discuss how WHO can help encourage Member States to expand the role that civil society is playing in their responses.
We want you to help us highlight the most urgent topics and organize these discussions together with you.
In the long term, I hope this will become a model for WHO’s engagement with civil society in everything that we do.
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As you know, I have experienced firsthand the power and importance of community participation in public health.
I spent years fighting the scourge of malaria in Ethiopia, leading community programs aimed at improving early diagnosis and treatment.
That experience showed me that, whether at the local, national or international level, public health measures can only be fully effective when civil society and communities are properly engaged. Not only engagement, actually community ownership.
During the pandemic, we have seen how important public trust is in the successful implementation of public health measures needed to tackle the spread of the virus.
And this is not just about the immediate response.
It is essential that civil society is front-and-center in building back better and ensuring greater equity and resilience in health systems, communities and economies.
My ambition for these sessions is that they will inform the development of concrete proposals on how civil society can better contribute to the pandemic response and beyond, and how we at WHO can work closer together with you.
Thank you again for joining us today. I look forward to your questions and reflections.