Your Excellency Ambassador Katharina Stasch;
Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,
The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed fundamental flaws in the global health architecture, fuelled by profound underlying inequities, both between and within countries, which have hobbled our ability to bring this virus under control.
It is imperative that we act on the hard lessons learned over the last two years.
We must come together to strengthen the world’s defences against future pandemics, humanitarian crises, disasters and other health emergencies, so that we can mitigate their impacts on health systems, societies and economies.
Because one thing we know for certain is that there will be future global health emergencies. And the time to prepare, and to fix the gaps in our existing systems, is now.
As you know, there have been many reviews of the global response to this pandemic, with more than 200 recommendations.
Taking those recommendations into account, in response to requests from several Member States at the Executive Board in January, I committed to developing a set of proposals on strengthening the global architecture for health emergency preparedness, response and resilience, for presentation to Member States at the World Health Assembly in May.
This strengthened architecture is rooted in the principles of equity, inclusivity and coherence, as the basis of trust within and between nations.
We have structured it around three key pillars:
First, stronger governance.
In the face of a common threat, the world needs a common approach, with common rules of the game that govern the global response, with strengthened mechanisms for leadership, regulation and accountability.
This pandemic has been marked by a patchwork of different and sometimes contradictory responses, which have led to confusion, division, inequity and stigmatization.
As you know, WHO’s Member States are now negotiating a new legally binding instrument to set the rules of the game for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.
WHO also supports the recommendation for a heads of state council on global health emergencies, to provide high-level political leadership for rapid and coordinated action.
In our view, such a council must be anchored in the constitutional mandate of WHO, to ensure political, strategic and technical coherence.
At the national level, these efforts must go beyond the health ministry, with intersectoral coordination and a One Health approach that engages the whole-of-government and the whole-of-society.
And several countries are now piloting the Universal Health and Preparedness Review, a new peer-review mechanism for enhancing national preparedness.
Second, stronger financing.
It’s obvious that nationally and globally, we need substantial resources for strengthening global health security. Our analysis estimates the needs at US$ 31 billion per year.
We estimate that about US$ 20 billion could come from existing and projected domestic and international resources, leaving a gap of US$ 10 billion per year.
To close the gap for the most essential functions – such as surveillance, research and market-shaping for countermeasures – we support the idea of a new dedicated financing facility at the World Bank, the FIF, with a central role for WHO. I hope you have already read the Op-Ed that Secretary Yellin, myself, and Minister Sri have published recently.
And third, we need stronger systems and tools to prevent, detect, and respond rapidly to epidemics and pandemics.
Already, WHO has taken steps to build some of these systems and tools, including the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence in Berlin, to enhance global surveillance through collaborative intelligence;
We’re piloting the WHO BioHub System, a new mechanism for countries to share novel biological materials;
The Global Action Plan for Healthy Lives and Well-being for All, or SDG 3 GAP, now has engagement with 50 countries and is working to strengthen incentives for collaboration in funding, monitoring, evaluation and governance.
To address the inequities in the development and distribution of global public health goods, we established the ACT Accelerator to fast-track equitable access to vaccines, diagnostics, therapeutics, PPE, and other countermeasures for those who need them the most;
To strengthen capacities for local production of vaccines and other health products in low- and middle-income countries, we have established the WHO Technology Transfer Hub in South Africa, which has now developed its own mRNA COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
Thirteen countries have now been approved to receive technology from the hub to produce their own mRNA vaccines.
And to support the development of global workforce capacities, we are now building the WHO Academy in France.
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Stronger governance; stronger financing; stronger systems and tools.
But we must remember that global health security is only as strong as the weakest link.
Ultimately, it depends on strong national capacities, resilient communities, and a commitment to equity and inclusivity.
That’s why WHO is committed to working in all countries to strengthen national capacities, built on a foundation of strong primary health care.
And at the heart of the global health architecture, we need a stronger, empowered, and sustainably financed WHO.
As some of you know, the Working Group on Sustainable Financing had it’s seventh, and final meeting today, and I joined them earlier today. I am looking forward to the presentation of their recommendations at the WHA.
Any efforts to strengthen the global health security architecture can only succeed if they also strengthen WHO’s role at its centre, rather than creating further mechanisms that would only create further fragmentation.
Excellencies, colleagues and friends, the window of opportunity to address the gaps in the global health architecture will not be open for long, as the world turns its attention to other priorities.
The cycle of panic and neglect is approaching. The time to fix the fundamental gaps and flaws in our global health architecture is now. Don’t let this opportunity go to waste.
Thank you all for your continued support for WHO. We look forward to your ideas and suggestions, and to our continued partnership.
And thank you so much for the commitment of the Friends in joining this meeting. I look forward to hosting you in the next meeting.
Vielen dank, Ambassador, and back to you.