Your Excellencies,
I would like to thank all of you, and especially the Croatian Presidency and High Representative Josep Borrell, for the opportunity to speak with you today.
Let me begin with a brief update.
As of this morning, almost 7 million cases of COVID-19 have been reported to WHO, with almost 400 000 deaths.
Although cases are continuing to decline in Europe – good news – but globally we are seeing a number of concerning trends.
More than 100 000 cases of COVID-19 have been reported to WHO on 9 of the past 10 days. Yesterday, more than 136 000 cases were reported, the most in a single day so far.
There are increasing numbers of cases in Central and South America, the Eastern Mediterranean, South-East Asia and Africa.
Many countries need support to address their immediate needs, mitigate the impact of the pandemic, and help in their recovery.
As you know, this pandemic is affecting lives and livelihoods and we have to address both.
We still have a long way to go, my friends.
It has now been more than four months since I declared COVID-19 a global health emergency. Since that time, since 30 January, when we declared the highest level of emergency, the pandemic has upended health systems, societies, and economies in Europe and around the world.
Just as COVID-19 has affected nearly every sector of our societies, so too must we respond with a whole-of-society and whole-of-government approach – as many governments in Europe are doing.
Development is by definition a multidisciplinary field, with health as a cornerstone. But COVID-19 has reminded us that health too, does not exist in a vacuum.
I would like to offer my thanks to the European Union and its Member States for its leading role supporting the COVID-19 response, both to WHO and especially for the early action to support vulnerable countries. Thank you, so much.
This has enabled the delivery of critical supplies, technical advice, training, and surge capacity to countries with weaker health systems, including Member States in Eastern Europe and in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific.
Of course, the EU and its Member States have long been a partner to WHO, with support accounting for 25 per cent of the WHO budget.
We welcome the recent proposal from the Commission to mobilize additional funds in 2020 to support the global response and the proposed budget for 2021 – 2027. Thank you so much, again.
This underlines the EU’s commitment to its global partners through strengthened development and humanitarian aid, through strengthened multilateralism.
Our sincere thanks also to the EU leadership for its support of a consensus resolution on COVID-19 during the World Health Assembly last month. You managed to bring the whole world together. That was very, very important to the response to the pandemic.
We are in the process of implementing the resolution and following up on the 10 action points. I look forward to updating you, regularly.
One of the critical elements in the WHA resolution is to scale up development, manufacturing and distribution capacity to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines and medicines.
That is why we are especially grateful to President von der Leyen and the European Commission who have been tremendous partners in helping to launch and advance the work of the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator.
We are working very closely with President von der Leyen’s office to transition to fully empowering the Accelerator hub housed in WHO to help coordinate and support the work of ACT moving forward, and I look forward to the European Commission’s continued partnership and leadership towards our collective goal of equitable access. And thank you also for the huge amount of resources you mobilized in one pledge. That’s the US$8 billion for ACT Accelerator.
That, along with the COVID-19 Technology Access Pool, are critical first steps to ensuring that the most vulnerable populations are protected.
I would like to take this opportunity to express our appreciation for President Juncker, the previous president, with whom we had a very close working relationship.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic goes far beyond the disease itself. It is unravelling many of the gains we have made fighting some of the world's most devastating diseases.
Vaccination campaigns for polio, cholera, measles, meningitis and HPV have been disrupted, putting hundreds of millions of people at risk.
Additionally, 80 million children are at risk of missing out on routine vaccines for tuberculosis, pneumonia and diarrhea.
There is a real danger that the COVID-19 pandemic will be followed by a hunger crisis. The World Food Program estimates that the number of people in low- and middle-income countries facing acute food insecurity will nearly double to 265 million by the end of 2020.
The prevalence of wasting in low- and middle-income countries could rise by a shocking 20 per cent.
Life-saving nutrition services must be maintained in all countries, including treatment of acute malnutrition, vitamin A supplementation for children, and micronutrient supplementation for pregnant and breastfeeding women.
Going forward, it is critical that we learn the lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, which remind us once again that we are only as strong as our weakest link.
The pandemic has again underlined the critical link between global health security and national and community health systems, and especially equitable supply chains and our health workforce.
As has been harshly demonstrated by this pandemic, trying to save money by neglecting critical health, environmental, and social safety net systems is a false economy.
The bill is now being paid many times over.
Preparedness and strong health systems are not a cost, they are an investment.
Once again, I would like to thank the EU for its all-weather partnership, and going forward and believing in that, I have three requests to make:
First, we need to invest even more in strengthening health systems and improving resilience - particularly in those countries and communities with weaker health systems.
Second, while the world's focus is currently on COVID-19, it is critical to maintain support to other humanitarian and development initiatives, such as our partnership with the EU on Health Systems Strengthening for Universal Health Coverage, which is now active in 115 countries.
Third, we need to build back better.
Efforts like the EU Global Recovery Initiative and the new EU-Africa Strategy can address gaps in social sectors and weak health systems, not only for the current crisis but also for the long term.
We have recently issued the WHO Manifesto for a healthy recovery from COVID-19 which proposes six key actions to promote a healthier, fairer, and greener world, in alignment with the EU’s Green New Deal.
Finally, I also seek your continuing support for countries in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific. Recently I have spoken to President Ramaphosa, the current chair of the African Union; Prime Minister Mottley, the prime minister of Barbados and the current chair of the Caribbean Community; and Prime Minister Natano of Tuvalu, who is the current chair of the Pacific Islands Forum. All three shared with me their acute shortage of supplies. Of course, we are trying to give them our support from the support you are giving us. But still they tell me that they have big gaps. For the European Union to focus on the ACP countries would be very important – Africa, Caribbean, and the Pacific. We are doing our best to meet these demands. But more is needed, and I hope you will increase the support, especially for those three places. Once again, thank you again for your support and commitment so far.
As I said, although the situation here in Europe is improving, globally it is worsening. We still have a long way to go, and we will continue to look to you for your support.
As you know, if this pandemic can teach us one thing, it is humility. Humility to believe that we need one another to fight this dangerous virus.
And Josep, as you rightly said during the World Health Assembly, you brought the whole world together. And I want the EU to continue to convince the US and China to work together. We don’t need confrontation, we need solidarity. It is when the world comes together that it can defeat this dangerous virus.
I will be honest with you. I am really, really worried, because we cannot defeat this virus with a divided world. We need solidarity, especially starting from the big players. I fully agree with you, Josep, when you say that we need the US on the table. It should be with us.
It is through the unity of all of us that we can defeat this virus. Otherwise, WHO’s assessment is that with a divided world, the virus will continue to wreak havoc, even more havoc.
So, you have done it during the assembly, I hope you will continue to convince - especially the two powers – to work together and bring the rest of the world together and to be able to fight this dangerous virus in unison. Without that, the virus will get advantage and will continue to wreak havoc.
Thank you so much against and I look forward to our discussion.
Thank you so much.