Dear Minister Le Drian, Minister Veran, Minister Vidal,
Distinguished guests, dear colleagues and friends,
There’s a saying that you discover who your friends are in a crisis. And this year, France has been a true friend to WHO.
France and His Excellency President Macron have played a key role in establishing the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator, and in providing strong political and financial support for WHO.
Of course, our friendship goes back many years, to the first International Sanitary Conference in Paris in 1851, and the first International Office of Public Hygiene – the forerunner of WHO – which was founded in Paris in 1907.
Last year, we deepened that friendship by signing the Declaration of Intent to establish the WHO Academy in Lyon.
I would like to thank President Macron, Minister Le Drian, Minister Veran and Minister Vidal for their strong leadership and partnership to realize the vision of the WHO Academy, and for hosting this critically important meeting today.
Of course, I was very sorry to hear that President Macron has tested positive for COVID-19, and I would like to wish him a full and swift recovery.
I also would like to thank the Mayor of Lyon, the President of the Metropole and the President of the Region for their great support.
The future building of the Academy looks stunning, and I can’t wait for the ground-breaking ceremony with President Macron next year.
We have had excellent collaboration with the French government, and Monsieur Mestrallet, with the support of Monsieur Merieux has demonstrated strong commitment, as evidenced by his success in fundraising.
The ambitions of the WHO Academy are not modest: to revolutionize health learning globally. It has never been more timely.
I truly believe the WHO Academy could be a game-changer for global health.
The Academy aims to train millions of health workers around the world with innovative learning via a state-of-the-art digital learning platform.
The Academy campus will be based in Lyon, with satellites in the six WHO regions.
The WHO Academy Lyon will have high-tech learning environments, a world-class health emergencies simulation centre, and collaboration spaces for learning co-design, research and innovation.
This is an exciting opportunity to accelerate progress towards health for all around the world.
By propelling and strengthening digital innovations and lifelong learning opportunities around the world, the WHO Academy will help us support countries to accelerate towards the health targets in the Sustainable Development Goals.
The Academy will harness the strength of WHO’s partnerships, experts, collaborating centres and networks, and will position Lyon at the centre of an international ecosystem of health, research and innovation.
COVID-19 has made the Academy even more critically important.
This year, our OpenWHO.org online learning platform has provided powerful proof of concept for the WHO Academy, with more than 4.7 million enrolments in 20 courses on COVID-19, in 45 languages.
The Academy will be launched during the World Health Assembly in May next year.
It has never been more urgent to invest in global health, and the French private sector can play a critical role in supporting the set-up phase of the Academy.
Investing in the WHO Academy means investing in health, education, knowledge and technology.
It’s not just about investing in an institution. It’s about investing in people, and in the healthier, safer, fairer world we all want.
I thank you.