Excellencies, honourable ministers, distinguished participants, colleagues within the United Nations system, ladies and gentlemen,
Last year demonstrated the world’s vulnerability to emerging and epidemic-prone infectious diseases.
Nearly four years ago, a Review Committee, set up under the International Health Regulations, issued its report on the response to the 2009 influenza pandemic. The report warned that the world was ill-prepared to respond to a disease event that is severe and sustained. Ebola was both.
The Ebola outbreak in West Africa offers many lessons about promoting prevention and improving preparedness. In a world of radically increased interdependence, international travel, and trade, there is no such thing as a local outbreak anymore.
The International Health Regulations provide the mechanism for collective defence against this universal threat, and shared responsibility for this defence. Only 64 of WHO’s 194 Member States have the essential surveillance, laboratory, response, and other capacities in place to fulfil their obligations under the IHR. This is a shocking statistic.
Equally disturbing is the fact that clinicians were left empty-handed, with no tools to prevent or treat a deadly and dreaded disease. This tells us that the system of incentives for R&D needs fixing.
Ladies and gentlemen,
For preparedness, WHO identified 14 priority countries in the region. Assessment missions to all have been completed. The resulting national preparedness plans give development partners guidance on where support is likely to have the greatest impact.
Central to preparedness everywhere is a well-functioning health system, based on a primary health care approach, that aims to reach universal health coverage. IHR core capacities for surveillance, laboratory detection, and response need to be an integral part of the health system, not tacked on, like an extra arm.
The Ebola outbreak revealed major gaps in capacity and in coordination among multiple agencies and development partners. The world was ill-prepared. It shows. We must reduce this vulnerability as a matter of urgency.
WHO has identified five priorities for early recovery where national leadership is central.
First, restore trust in health services through community engagement and participation. Knowing that services are safe also builds trust. Screening using a newly approved rapid diagnostic test can help. Second, define a package of essential services.
Third, enhance capacity to deliver services. Foreign medical teams currently in countries have expressed their willingness to identify missing skill sets and help build capacities.
Fourth, increase access to services, ideally by suspending user fees. Finally, ensure preparedness for future health shocks.
On R&D for Ebola, WHO approved the first rapid antigen diagnostic test for Ebola last month. The test requires no electricity and can deliver results in 15 minutes, making it useful for screening purposes and for restoring trust in health services.
Clinical trials of three drugs are under way or will start soon for three treatments. Results for the first drug to be assessed are promising when patients are detected and treated early.
Phase III clinical trials of two Ebola vaccines have begun or will begin soon in all three countries. Safety and immunogenicity data are good. If the vaccines prove effective, they could play an important role in ending the outbreak, especially with frontline health care workers prioritized to receive the first doses.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The stunning decline in cases is a tribute to the strong efforts of national governments and to strong support from many countries and development partners, sub-regional, regional, and international organizations, international financial institutions, nongovernment organizations, and private sector partners.
We have turned the tide, but we have not turned off the tap.
We must guard against complacency and fatigue until we get the job done. We must show solidarity with the three countries in their journeys to recovery and development.
Thank you.