Your Excellency Dennis Francis, President of the General Assembly,
Your Excellency President Begaj,
Your Excellency President Milanovic,
Your Excellency President Ramos-Horta,
Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,
The World Health Organization was founded 75 years ago, as countries were rebuilding after the collective trauma of World War 2.
It was then that the authors of WHO's constitution affirmed both that health is a human right, and that the health of all people is fundamental to peace and security.
Since then, human health has improved significantly. Global life expectancy has increased from 46 to 73 years, with the greatest gains in the poorest countries.
Smallpox has been eradicated, polio is on the brink, and the epidemics of HIV, malaria and tuberculosis have been pushed back.
In the past 20 years alone, maternal mortality has fallen by a third and child mortality has more than halved.
The COVID-19 pandemic not only caused great suffering and death around the world, it also roiled economies, caused immense social upheaval, and frayed the fabric of multilateralism.
Even before COVID-19, progress towards many health targets agreed in the Sustainable Development Goals had slowed or stalled, and the pandemic set us even further back.
One of the key lessons of COVID-19, therefore, is that a pandemic is so much more than a health crisis: when health is at risk, everything is at risk.
That means investments in protecting health are also investments in social, economic and political stability and security.
The health challenges we face today have changed considerably since WHO was founded in 1948.
Noncommunicable diseases now account for 70% of all deaths globally; obesity rates have skyrocketed; antimicrobial resistance threatens to unwind a century of medical progress; and air pollution and climate change are jeopardising the very habitability of the planet on which all life depends.
These challenges have no regard for the lines humans draw on maps, nor for ideologies, religions, economic or military might.
We face multi-layered threats that require multisectoral action - backed by multilateral support.
The need for multilateral cooperation is greater than ever, and so is the opportunity.
At a time of polarisation, health is one of the few areas in which countries who are otherwise political and economic rivals can work together to build a common approach to common threats.
To respond to the threats of today and tomorrow, we need a stronger architecture for health emergency preparedness and response.
Indeed, that is what nations are doing, in negotiating a new legally-binding pandemic accord and amendments to the International Health Regulations, to strengthen the global response to health emergencies.
I seek your support for the pandemic accord, by advocating for a strong accord based on equity, and by refuting the mis- and disinformation about it.
Just as in 1948 nations came together in the aftermath of the bloodiest war in history to establish WHO, so now nations must come together in the wake of the most severe health crisis in a century to chart a new path forward together.
The challenges we face may be different, but the vision remains the same: health as a human right, and the foundation of peace and security.
I thank you.