Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,
Good morning, good afternoon and good evening.
Thank you for inviting me to join the Standing Committee this afternoon, and special thanks to Mr Daems, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly.
Yesterday, I had the honour of addressing the European Parliament Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety and I am here today to ensure that we hear your voice, we exchange views with you, and we keep you informed.
European Member States of WHO have played a key role in the COVID-19 response, and in showing continuous support for a multilateral approach to confront this crisis in Europe and beyond.
I offer my sincere thanks for the strong expressions of support and solidarity from so many European Heads of State at the World Health Assembly in May, including Chancellor Merkel, President Macron, Prime Minister Sanchez and Prime Minister Conte.
Yesterday I was honoured to be joined here at WHO by His Excellency Jens Spahn, Federal Minister of Health of Germany, and His Excellency Olivier Véran, Minister of Solidarity and Health of France.
We very much appreciate the expression of political, financial and technical support from Germany and France – 500 million euros from Germany and 50 million from France, and a further 100 million in masks.
This complements the strong support of the European Commission in launching the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator, to speed up the development, production and equitable distribution of vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics.
We also appreciate the Commission’s leadership in hosting a historic pledging event that raised 8 billion U.S. dollars.
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Parliaments play a critical role in translating international instruments into national laws that advance health.
You approve budgets and allocations to ensure people get the services they need, when they need them, including during health emergencies.
You adopt laws, and monitor policies and strategies to ensure effective, efficient and transparent implementation – and you hold governments accountable.
To perform these functions properly, Parliaments must be informed, involved and engaged, and regional platforms like PACE play a critical role in doing that.
Every year at the World Health Assembly we are now encouraging Parliamentarians to join national delegations, and we are organizing specific sessions to discuss how parliaments can contribute to the global health agendas.
This year, we envisaged the first ever Parliamentary Forum during the Assembly, but due to the COVID-19 emergency we postponed it to next year.
For the first time, WHO has now established a program of engagement with parliaments, which is coordinated centrally at WHO headquarters in Geneva, working in close collaboration with all regions.
We’re also working hand in hand with the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
In 2018 I was honoured to sign a historic Memorandum of Understanding with my friend Mr Martin Chungong, the IPU Secretary-General, to strengthen our collaboration in three areas: universal health coverage, global health security, and promoting health for vulnerable groups, including women, children and adolescents.
Last year, the IPU Assembly adopted a landmark resolution, committing to leverage the power of parliaments to make progress towards universal health coverage.
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Parliaments also have a critical role in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
More than 9.2 million cases of COVID-19 have now been reported to WHO, and almost 480 thousand deaths.
The pandemic is still accelerating.
In the first month of this outbreak, less than 10 thousand cases were reported to WHO. In the last month, almost 4 million cases have been reported.
We expect to reach a total of 10 million cases and 500 thousand deaths within the next week.
Although transmission has been suppressed in many European countries, the virus is still circulating, it’s still deadly, and most people are still susceptible.
This is the time to be on our guard, not to let it down. The greatest threat in Europe now is complacency.
In other regions, some countries are continuing to see a rapid increase in cases and deaths.
Some countries that have successfully suppressed transmission are now seeing an upswing in cases as they reopen their societies and economies.
All countries, including here in Europe, are facing a delicate balance between protecting their people, while minimizing the social and economic damage, and respecting human rights.
But it’s not a choice between lives, livelihoods and human rights. Countries can – and must – preserve them all.
We continue to urge all countries to double down on the fundamental public health measures that we know work: find, isolate, test and care for every case, and trace and quarantine every contact. We have said this many times, like a broken record.
At the same time, these measures can only be effective if each and every individual takes the measures that we also know work to protect themselves and others.
Maintain physical distance
Continue cleaning your hands.
And wear a mask where appropriate.
Even as we respond to the pandemic, we must also be mindful of the fact that the health effects of the pandemic go far beyond the suffering caused by the virus itself.
The pandemic has jeopardized the achievement of most Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
In the WHO European Region, 68% of countries report that the pandemic has disrupted services to manage noncommunicable diseases.
66% of services for hypertension management, and 58% of those to manage diabetes and its complications have been partially or completely disrupted.
We have also observed up to a 60% reduction in TB detection, which leads to late start of treatment and an increase in mortality.
National immunization services were interrupted in some countries, with others experiencing a significant drop in coverage.
This backlog of unattended care must be addressed.
We must reopen these and other vital services safely with the utmost urgency but in safe conditions for frontline workers and patients alike.
And we must protect and support the most vulnerable among us.
WHO is especially concerned about the pandemic’s impact on people who already struggle to access health services, often women, children and adolescents.
Early evidence suggests people in their teens and 20s are at greater risk of depression and anxiety, online harassment, physical and sexual violence and unintended pregnancies, while their ability to seek the services they need is reduced.
Refugees are also particularly at risk of COVID-19 because they often have limited access to adequate shelter, water, nutrition, sanitation and health services.
We have a shared duty to do everything we can to prevent, detect and respond to transmission of COVID-19 among refugee populations.
WHO has developed guidance for health facilities and community activities, on maintaining essential services, including for women, newborns, children and adolescents.
This includes ensuring women and children can use services with appropriate infection prevention and control measures and respectful maternal and newborn care.
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Since the 31st of December, when we received the first report of cases in China, WHO has been working day and night to coordinate the global response, provide evidence-based scientific and technical guidance, catalyze research and development, and provide direct support to countries most in need.
We rang the alarm bell early and often, declaring a global health emergency – our highest level of alert – on the 30th of January, when there were less than 100 cases outside China, and no deaths.
We’ve brought together thousands of experts to analyze the evolving evidence and distil it into guidance.
We’ve launched a large international trial to find answers fast about which drugs are the most effective.
We have shipped millions of test kits and tons of protective gear all around the world, focusing on those countries who need our support most.
We’ve trained millions of health workers around the world through our OpenWHO.org online learning platform.
We’ve worked with tech companies to fight the infodemic.
And we’ve formed a global collaboration to accelerate the development, production, and equitable distribution of COVID-19 diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines.
But no organization and no country can fight this pandemic alone. Only by working together will we overcome this global threat.
The greatest threat we face now is not the virus itself, it’s the lack of global solidarity, and global leadership. We cannot defeat this pandemic with a divided world.
Together, we must work to ensure the lessons of this pandemic is learned and the world never again finds itself unprepared.
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At the World Health Assembly in May, Member States came together to pass a historic resolution on our collective response to COVID-19, which recognized the key leadership role of WHO.
The resolution also calls for an independent and comprehensive evaluation of the international response – including, but not limited to, WHO’s performance.
I have said that I will initiate such an evaluation at the earliest appropriate moment.
I note the many interesting proposals in the draft resolution that you are considering today.
I would encourage you to feed these suggestions into the evaluation process as this will form the basis for any decisions taken by Member States at the World Health Assembly. We value your recommendations, so feel free to send them.
We welcome any initiative to strengthen global health security, and to strengthen WHO, and to help make the world safer. And for that to happen, we must listen to every voice in the world, as this pandemic has affected the whole world.
As I said in my closing remarks at the virtual World Health Assembly, and I repeat today, WHO is committed to transparency, accountability and continuous improvement. That’s the only way to make this world better.
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Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,
The COVID-19 pandemic is not over; and nobody is safe until we are all safe.
The impacts of COVID-19 are enormous, not only in terms of lives lost, but also in the damage to livelihoods and related socio-economic consequences.
It is a reminder that preparedness is not a cost but an investment in the future.
It is also a reminder that we know what works, but we must act in solidarity and coordination with one another, nationally and internationally.
Since I took office, we have been transforming WHO not only to strengthen our ability to respond to health emergencies, but also to support countries to prepare. We take change as a constant.
We created a division focused on improving emergency preparedness in countries around the world, especially the most vulnerable.
With the World Bank we also established the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board, to identify vulnerabilities in global health security.
For the first time, we created a Science Division, to strengthen WHO’s normative function, and to drive research and development in many areas of global health, including emerging pathogens.
Last year we also signed an agreement with France to establish the WHO Academy, which could be a game changer in global health education. And during this COVID-19 response it has already trained over 3.7 million.
Nevertheless, this once-in-a-century event must cause all of us to examine our efforts and to see what needs to change.
The International Health Regulations provide an important legal framework for countries to work together for mutual security.
The IHR were last updated in 2005 in the wake of SARS. The recent Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that was declared over yesterday, and the current COVID-19 pandemic have both demonstrated that some parts of the IHR need to be strengthened to make them more fit for purpose.
The world does not lack the tools, the science, or the resources to make it safer from pandemics. What is has lacked is the sustained commitment to use the tools, the science and the resources it has - commitment that will endure.
That must change, and it must change now.
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Today, I would like to propose the following three concrete steps for us to take together:
First, to initiate a structured dialogue between WHO and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, in order to facilitate regular collaboration on relevant health issues and WHO participation in the Assembly’s activities.
Second, we seek your support beyond the immediate context of the pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic is a reminder of the importance of long-term investment in strong, resilient health systems as the foundation for sustainable development.
Third, to call for continued leadership by Europe in the spirit of solidarity. We seek your support in research and development, delivery of essential health services and fair access to diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics across Europe and beyond. Fair access based on honesty.
The world is learning the hard way that health is not a luxury item; it’s the cornerstone of security, stability and prosperity. We are learning the hard way the centrality of health.
That’s why it’s essential that countries not only respond urgently to the pandemic, but also that they invest in strong health systems domestically, and in global health security.
WHO’s focus now is fighting the pandemic with every tool at our disposal.
Our focus is on saving lives. At the end of the day, what matters is life, even if it’s one individual. That should be at the centre of everything we do, and everything we say.
Let us begin, from this meeting, a new dialogue and together forge, from today, a safer, healthier future for Europe and the world. A global conversation based on equality – every voice matters. That’s how we can build a better world together.
I thank you.