Mr President, Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,
Good morning, good afternoon and good evening to all of you.
Yesterday I returned from Ukraine, where I visited bombed hospitals, spoke with health workers and patients, met with the Prime Minister, Minister of Health and other officials, and met with our WHO colleagues who are on the ground, doing everything they can to protect and promote health.
We discussed the health situation, and how WHO can best support the Ministry of Health to deliver care in conflict areas, as well as to sustain care for those who need it throughout Ukraine.
As a child I experienced the smell, sound and devastation of war. My time in Kyiv has brought back those very painful and vivid memories of fear, pain & loss.
I know the horror that people in Ukraine are experiencing, and wish for peace to return.
I saw extraordinary resilience – people who have their loved ones, their homes, their security, but have not lost hope.
I saw the damage to health infrastructure, and heard the accounts of physical and mental harm to health workers.
WHO has now verified 200 attacks on health care in Ukraine since the war began. Any attack on health care is a violation of international humanitarian law.
Prior to the conflict, WHO was working with the Ministry of Health to prepare for the worst-case scenario, pre-positioning supplies in hospitals.
Since the Russian Federation’s invasion began, WHO has delivered trauma and emergency supplies for use in over 15,000 surgeries, and enough medicines and healthcare equipment to serve 650,000 people.
We have also provided 15 diesel generators to provide electricity to hospitals and health facilities, and just yesterday we handed over 20 ambulances.
WHO has supported or coordinated more than 50 Emergency Medical Teams in Ukraine and neighbouring countries, and we have trained thousands of Ukrainian healthcare providers on how to handle mass casualties.
We have also established three health hubs in western Ukraine to support medical evacuations, and ensured safe medical evacuation of patients, including those suffering from cancer, for treatment outside Ukraine.
Some of our Ukrainian staff have lost their homes, fear for their families, deal with daily uncertainty, but have kept working to support the health needs of the people of Ukraine.
The Secretariat will continue to do everything we can to protect and promote health in Ukraine.
But there is one medicine that WHO cannot deliver, and which Ukraine needs more than any other, and that is peace.
And so we continue to call on the Russian Federation to stop this war.
Thank you.