Your Excellency Commissioner Stella Kyriakides,
Director-General Sandra Gallina,
Dear colleagues and friends, thank you for joining us today, and
I also acknowledge Commissioner Thierry Breton and Director-General Roberto Viola, who could unfortunately not be with us today.
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the value of digital health solutions in facilitating access to health services.
While the emergency phase of the COVID-19 pandemic is now over, investments in digital infrastructure remain an important resource for health systems, and for economies and societies at large.
Like many countries, the European Union made significant investments in COVID-19 certificates to help people move around as safely as possible during the pandemic.
The European Union’s certification system was used by all 27 EU Member States and more than 50 other countries.
Building on the success of the EU system, WHO is proud today to launch the Global Digital Health Certification Network.
So thank you so much to the European Union for the excellent certification system that you have transferred to us, and we have the chance to build on it.
WHO will begin operations of the network today with the existing COVID-19 certificate, as a global public good.
Soon after, we will expand this infrastructure by incorporating other uses, such as a digitized International Certificate of Vaccination, routine immunization cards, and international patient summaries.
WHO will continue to work with all regions to ensure that the network is accessible globally, incorporating relevant experiences and standards from other countries and regions.
It’s important to emphasise that privacy is key. WHO will not have any access to any personal health data. We will only maintain a directory of the public keys that can be used to verify the authenticity of a Member State’s digital health records.
The Global Digital Health Certification Network will be an important part of our efforts to strengthen health systems and support our Member States to prepare better for the next epidemic or pandemic.
The network could also play a crucial role in cross-border humanitarian situations, by ensuring people have access to their health records and credentials as they move across borders due to conflict, the climate crisis and other emergencies.
WHO would like to thank again the European Commission for its partnership, and support, and for advocating to EU Member States and other participants that they migrate to the WHO network.
I also thank the EU and WHO teams who worked hard to bring us to this moment.
We very much value the European Commission’s technical and financial support, and we very much hope that support will continue.
WHO looks forward to implementing this Administrative Arrangement and furthering our collaboration so that all Member States can equitably reap the benefits of this vital digital public infrastructure.
I thank you.