Good morning, good afternoon and good evening.
Yesterday was international nurses day and a moment to celebrate those critical frontline health workers saving the lives of people with COVID-19, Ebola and many other diseases.
As the world celebrated nurses, I was shocked and appalled to hear of the attack on an MSF hospital in Afghanistan, which led to the deaths of nurses, mothers and babies.
Civilians and health workers should never be a target and as my colleague and dear friend Mike Ryan said last week, the weaponisation of health is not helping anywhere.
We need health and peace.
We need peace for health and health for peace.
And we need it now!
In the time of a global pandemic, I urge all stakeholders to put aside politics and prioritize peace, a global ceasefire and ending this pandemic together.
Every day without a ceasefire, more people are dying unnecessarily.
Out of solidarity and respect for those killed and injured, as well as all those nurses and health professionals working right now in some of the most difficult environments in the world, I would like to ask for a collective minute of silence to remember those that have been slain in their daily work to serve and save lives. Please join me.
(Silence observed for 60 seconds)
Thank you.
Today, the 2020 World Health Statistics were published by WHO.
There is good news that overall people around the world are living both longer and healthier lives.
The biggest gains were reported in low-income countries, which saw life expectancy rise by more than a fifth since the turn of the Millennium.
Better maternal and child healthcare has led to a halving of child mortality since the year 2000. An achievement for the world.
Furthermore, lower-income countries dramatically scaled up access to services to prevent and treat HIV, malaria and tuberculosis, as well as a number of neglected tropical diseases such as guinea worm.
However, the report reflects that the rate of progress is too slow to meet the Sustainable Development Goals and will be further thrown off track by COVID-19.
The new statistics shine a light on one of the key drivers of this pandemic: inequality.
How is it that in 2020, approximately 1 billion people are spending at least 10 percent of their household budgets on health care?
How is that in 2020, over 55 percent of countries have fewer than 40 nursing and midwifery personnel per 10,000 people?
How is that in 2020, because of a failure to invest in preparedness, we now risk backsliding on child immunization, malaria, neglected tropical diseases and HIV?
The answer is that the world has not done enough to deliver on the promise of health for all.
The COVID-19 pandemic is causing a significant loss of life, disrupting livelihoods, and threatening to undo much of the progress we have made.
While the coronavirus is an unprecedented shock to the world; through national unity and global solidarity, we can save both lives and livelihoods and ensure that other health services for neglected diseases, child vaccination, HIV, TB and malaria continue to both function and improve.
During the World Health Assembly next week we will discuss with health leaders from across the world not only how to defeat COVID-19 but also how we can build back stronger health systems everywhere.
We have a once in a lifetime opportunity to prove that the world is more than just a collection of individual countries with colourful flags.
We are one world that has more in common with each other than we would ever dare to believe.
The pandemic has made it crystal clear that we are one world that has more in common with each other than we’d ever dare to believe.
The best defense against disease outbreaks and other health threats is preparedness, which includes investing in building strong health systems and primary health care.
Health systems and health security are two sides of the same coin.
If we don’t invest in both, we will face not just health consequences but the social, economic and political fallout that we’re already experiencing in this pandemic.
Today, I joined leaders from the global health, human rights and development institutions to draw the attention of political leaders to the heightened vulnerability of prisoners during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Along with WHO’s own guidance on prisons, I urge political leaders to enhance all prevention and control measures in respect to vulnerable populations in places of detention.
Overcrowding in prisons undermines hygiene, health, safety and human dignity, a health response to COVID-19 in closed settings alone is insufficient.
We urge political leaders to ensure that COVID-19 preparedness and responses in closed settings are identified and implemented in line with fundamental human rights and are guided by WHO guidance and recommendations to protect human health.
Furthermore, today the WHO announced the launch of the WHO Academy application designed to support health workers, and the WHO Info app designed to inform the general public during COVID-19.
The apps are available in all UN languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Spanish and Russian.
With these new mobile apps, the WHO is putting the power of learning and knowledge-sharing directly into the hands of health workers and people everywhere.
The WHO Academy app provides health workers with mobile access to a wealth of COVID-19 resources, developed by WHO, that include up-to-the-minute guidance, tools, training, and virtual workshops that will help them care for COVID-19 patients and protect themselves.
Furthermore, in response to COVID-19, WHO has utilized our OpenWHO platform and translated guidance into training, including 68 online courses to improve the response to health emergencies.
It now has more than 2.5 million enrolments and hosts free trainings on 10 different topics across 22 languages to support the coronavirus response, including our first course in Swahili this week.
Every day we learn more and more about COVID19 and new apps and courses for health workers and the general public allow us to disseminate information quickly and effectively.
Sharing experience and best practices is critical for strengthening our response to the pandemic.
Learning together is key to building national unity and global solidarity so that together we accelerate progress faster and build a better world for us all to live in.
I thank you.