Your Excellency Jean-Yves Le Drian,
Your Excellency Heiko Maas,
Distinguished guests, excellencies dear colleagues and friends,
Bonjour, guten tag, good morning, good afternoon and good evening, bonjour and guten tag
Yesterday, I was honoured to be joined by Ministers of Health from France and Germany. Both countries have been longstanding friends of WHO and of global health, and we appreciate their expression of political, financial and technical support.
The COVID-19 pandemic is a test of our political, economic, cultural and social infrastructure.
The Alliance for Multilateralism underscores the vision of a world working together to resolve the challenges of our time.
In that sense, I am happy to join you today to mark the 75th anniversary of the signing of the United Nations Charter and everything that symbolises.
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Let me start by affirming WHO’s support for the values and principles of solidarity expressed in the ministerial declaration of the Alliance for Multilateralism that was adopted in April.
To echo the words in that statement: “we must remain united in our shared humanity”.
The COVID-19 pandemic has left no country untouched and has humbled all of us.
More than 9.4 million cases have now been reported to WHO and nearly half a million lives have been lost.
The world was not adequately prepared for this pandemic, and the effects will be felt for many years to come.
Education has been disrupted, economies have stalled and millions of families have been pushed into poverty.
Since this outbreak began, my colleagues at WHO have worked tirelessly and around the clock to coordinate the global response.
We activated our global expert networks to tap the world’s leading epidemiologists, clinicians, social-scientists, statisticians, virologists, risk communicators and others, to make our response truly global.
We have also worked with major tech companies to counter myths and rumour with reliable, evidence-based advice.
Our EPI-WIN team has adapted our advice for individuals and communities, health workers, employers and workers, faith-based organizations and more about how to protect themselves and others.
Through our daily situation reports and regular press briefings, we have kept the world informed about the latest data, information and evidence.
We have also worked with partners all over the world to accelerate research and development for diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines through the launch of the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator.
WHO will continue to work across borders on all elements of the pandemic response with leaders from government, the private sector, civil society, academia and with the media to foster global solidarity.
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Now, I would like to look to the future.
Recovering from the pandemic gives us a unique opportunity to build a better future – a more equitable, safe and resilient world.
This pandemic has shown us very clearly that universal health coverage is essential to our collective global health security, and we must look to rebuild stronger health systems, built on the foundation of primary health care.
Of course, this requires political will, resources and technical expertise.
That’s why WHO’s highest priority is to support countries to strengthen their health systems so that everyone, everywhere can access quality health services when they need them.
This crisis also gives us an opportunity to strengthen our collective ability to respond to emergencies and strengthen preparedness.
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.
Transforming WHO and equipping it with the tools, resources and expertise needed to address the world’s most pressing health challenges has been my top priority as Director-General.
And I heard you very well minister Jean-Yves.
The issues you have actually outlined are already in our transformation agenda.
And we will speed up the issues you have outlined.
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After the Second World War, political leaders sought to reimagine the future and build institutions that could shape a better world.
My hope is that the defining crisis of our age will likewise remind all people that the best way forward – the only way forward – is together.
COVID-19 has taken so much from us. But it is also giving us a once in a lifetime opportunity to break with the past and build back better.
Whether it is health, the environment, inequality, or peace and security – our best chance to change the world for the better is to strengthen multilateral institutions, so that they are more nimble and responsive to the multitude of challenges we face.
I believe we can do it, but only if we can build it together.
I thank you. Merci beaucoup