Good morning, good afternoon and good evening,
First, some good news.
Last Wednesday, Tanzania declared its outbreak of Marburg virus disease over.
Although 10 people died in the outbreak, it could have been much worse.
We congratulate the government, health workers, affected communities and all partners who supported the response to the outbreak.
WHO is proud to have played its part, supporting the government with technical, operational and financial support.
I thank especially the President for her leadership.
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In Uganda, we’re pleased that no new cases of Ebola have been reported since the 2nd of March, and there are no patients currently in care. Let’s hope it stays that way.
So far, twelve confirmed and two probable cases have been reported, with four deaths.
WHO is supporting investigations to identify the source of the outbreak, and any unknown transmission chains.
And today, Burundi became the 18th country to roll out malaria vaccines in its childhood immunization programme.
The first phase includes 25 districts with the highest malaria burden.
With support from WHO, Gavi and UNICEF, the Ministry of Health aims to vaccinate more than 250,000 children this year.
We expect that by the end of 2025, up to 25 countries will include malaria vaccines in their childhood immunization programmes.
These vaccines could save tens of thousands of young lives every year.
However, many of the gains in malaria that have been made over the past 20 years are now at risk because of cuts to funding from the U.S. for global health.
To be clear, I’m not talking about the decision by the United States to withdraw from WHO. I will not comment on that today.
I'm talking about cuts to direct U.S. funding for countries through USAID, the US CDC and other agencies.
The impact of these cuts will be even greater – and we are already seeing them.
There are now severe disruptions to the supply of malaria diagnostics, medicines and insecticide-treated bed nets due to stock outs, delayed delivery or lack of funding.
Over the last two decades, the U.S. has been the largest bilateral donor to the fight against malaria, helping to prevent an estimated 2.2 billion cases and 12.7 million deaths.
If disruptions continue, we could see an additional 15 million cases of malaria and 107,000 deaths this year alone, reversing 15 years of progress.
It’s a similar story with HIV. The suspension of most funding to PEPFAR – the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief – caused an immediate stop to services for HIV treatment, testing and prevention in more than 50 countries.
Eight countries now have substantial disruptions to antiretroviral therapy and some will run out of medicines in the coming months.
Disruptions to HIV programmes could undo 20 years of progress, leading to more than 10 million additional cases of HIV and 3 million HIV-related deaths – more than triple the number of deaths last year.
On tuberculosis, 27 countries in Africa and Asia are facing crippling breakdowns in their response, with shortages of human resources, disruptions to diagnosis and treatment, data and surveillance systems collapsing, and vital community engagement work deteriorating.
Nine countries have reported failing procurement and supply chains for TB drugs, jeopardizing the lives of people with TB.
Over the past two decades, U.S. support for TB services has helped to save almost 80 million lives. Those gains, too, are at risk.
On immunization, WHO’s Global Measles and Rubella Network of more than 700 laboratories, which was funded solely by the U.S., faces imminent shutdown.
This comes at the worst possible time, when measles is making a comeback.
Last year there were 57 large or disruptive measles outbreaks, and that number has been increasing for the past three years.
Since 1974, measles vaccines have saved nearly 94 million lives, but those gains are also at risk.
The sudden cuts to U.S. funding are also affecting efforts to eradicate polio, to monitor the emergence of diseases such as avian influenza, and to respond to disease outbreaks and humanitarian crises.
Almost 24 million people living in such crises are at risk of not being able to access essential health services.
More than 2,600 health facilities in 12 humanitarian crises have already suspended services at least partially, or will do very soon.
In many countries, the abrupt loss of U.S. funding threatens to reverse progress in disease control, immunization rates, maternal and child health, and emergency preparedness.
In Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh – the largest refugee camp in the world – diagnosis and treatment of hepatitis C has been disrupted, as well as disease surveillance, primary and secondary health care, laboratory services, procurement of supplies and salaries of health workers.
The U.S. Administration has been extremely generous over many years, and of course, is within its rights to decide what it supports, and to what extent.
But the U.S. also has a responsibility to ensure that if it withdraws direct funding for countries, it is done in an orderly and humane way that allows them to find alternative sources of funding.
We ask the U.S. to reconsider its support for global health, which not only saves lives around the world, it also makes the U.S. safer, by preventing outbreaks from spreading internationally.
And because health is wealth, fighting disease around the world supports global economic growth and stability, which benefits the U.S.
If the U.S. decides not to restore direct funding to countries, we ask it to engage in dialogue with affected countries so plans can be made to transition from reliance on U.S. funding to more sustainable solutions, without disruptions that cost lives.
Whether or not U.S. funding returns, other donors will need to step up, but so too must countries that have relied on U.S. financing, to the extent they can.
WHO has long called for all countries to progressively increase domestic health spending, and that is now more important than ever.
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Next week, WHO and the Government of Colombia, together with other partners, will host the Second Global Conference on Air Pollution and Health, in Cartagena.
Every year, around 7 million people die from air pollution, mainly from respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.
Many cities and countries are showing that change is possible, but progress is too slow.
We call on all countries to make bold and achievable commitments at next week’s conference to reduce air pollution and save lives.
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Finally, next Monday marks World TB Day.
As I mentioned earlier, funding cuts to TB programmes are having a severe impact in affected communities.
In 2018, WHO established the Civil Society Task Force on TB, to hear and amplify the voices of those communities, so that we can reflect their needs in our work.
To say more, I’m pleased to welcome Handaa Enkh-Amgalan, a member of the Civil Society Task Force, from Mongolia.
Handaa, welcome, and you have the floor.
[MS ENKH-AMGALAN ADDRESSED THE MEDIA]
Thank you, Handaa, for sharing your perspective, and thank you for the work that you and all civil society organizations do. WHO remains committed, I assure you, to working alongside you at this difficult time.
Christian, back to you.
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Notes
The sentence on disruptions to antiretroviral therapy in eight countries has been updated to show that some of the these countries will run out of medicines in the coming months. In addition, please note that “disruptions to antiretroviral therapy” means disruptions to supplies of medicines, or services to deliver them, or both.