Organizer: Global Cities Hub
Honourable Mayor Sami Kanaan, President of the Geneva Cities Hub,
High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi,
IFRC Secretary General Jagan Chapagain,
UN Habitat Deputy Executive Director, Michal Mlynar,
Honourable Mayors, distinguished guests, dear colleagues and friends,
Good afternoon, it’s an honour to be here, and thank you to the Global Cities Hub for organizing this event, and for the invitation to address you.
Welcome to Geneva, the city that has now been home to me and my family for more than six years.
Today, more than half the world's population lives in cities, and that proportion is projected to increase to 70% by 2050.
Cities are places that can either nurture good health, or destroy it.
They are centres for the most advanced health care, with world-class specialists and hospitals.
But they are also highly vulnerable to various public health threats, including the rising burden of noncommunicable diseases, the persistent threat of infectious disease outbreaks, and the risk of violence and injuries.
While people in cities may be closer to health facilities than those in rural areas, they can still face significant barriers to accessing care, especially where there are wide disparities in income.
WHO is committed to supporting you, as mayors and urban leaders, who are at the forefront of meeting these challenges day in and day out.
We have solid evidence on what works to improve health in urban environments.
Over the last few decades, WHO built that evidence and used it to improve urban health in several ways.
We are expanding health promotion programmes with municipalities, piloting local interventions on air pollution, road safety and physical activity, conducting training, and more.
All these activities rely on strong collaboration with our UN sister agencies and multilateral partners.
We are grateful for the longstanding partnership with UN Habitat, UNHCR, UNECE, IFRC and many others for the development of key technical products.
These include the WHO Housing and Health Guidelines, the sourcebook on integrating health in urban and territorial planning, and the Framework for strengthening health emergency preparedness in cities and urban settings.
The framework was published in November 2021, with eight areas for action.
It emphasizes the importance of early detection, rapid response, and effective coordination.
At the World Health Assembly last year, here at the Palais des Nations [pal-ay day nuss-yohn], WHO Member States passed a resolution on urban preparedness, and asked the WHO Secretariat for support in implementing the framework.
The resolution calls on governments, organizations, and communities to prioritize and invest in strategies that enhance urban preparedness for health emergencies.
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It’s now more than four months since I declared an end to COVID-19 as a global health emergency.
The question we all face is whether we will be ready when the next pandemic arrives.
As leaders, we have a collective responsibility to make sure we are ready.
One of the most important lessons of the pandemic is that as a global community, we can only face shared threats with a shared response.
That’s why, as you know, WHO Member States are now negotiating a new legally-binding pandemic accord, as well as amendments to the International Health Regulations.
And as you know, at the United Nations General Assembly in New York less than two weeks ago, countries adopted a strong declaration on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.
Among other things, they committed to delivering the accord and the amendments to the World Health Assembly by the World Health Assembly in May next year.
We appreciate the contribution of the Geneva Cities Hub to the work of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body, and we encourage you to continue to engage mayors through your network.
I commend you for the Mayors’ Declaration for Better Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response, which has now been signed by more than 70 mayors from around the world.
In particular, thank you for your call for equity to be at the heart of the accord.
An accord that fails to address the stark inequities that characterized the COVID-19 pandemic response will fall short of its mandate.
I also appreciate your acknowledgement in the declaration of the need for a whole-of-government approach to pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.
Pandemics begin and end in communities, so a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach is essential, to empower and equip communities to prepare for, prevent and respond to health emergencies.
Indeed, the draft accord includes an article dedicated to the issue.
We seek your continued advocacy for a strong accord, with equity at its heart, by May next year.
We also seek your support for fighting mis- and disinformation about the accord, including the false narrative that the accord will cede sovereignty to WHO.
The accord is an agreement between countries, for countries, to be implemented by countries, in accordance with their own national laws.
It will not give WHO any powers over sovereign nation states, and nor would we want them.
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This year marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the World Health Organization.
Indeed, the Constitution of WHO is itself a treaty – a commitment by countries to meet global health threats with a global response.
The WHO Constitution was the first document in history to formally recognize health as a fundamental human right for all people.
In the 75 years since then, the health and wellbeing of the world’s people has improved more rapidly than at any time in the history of humanity, especially for the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people.
Life expectancy globally has increased from 47 to 73. Just in the past 20 years, maternal mortality has dropped by a third and child mortality has halved.
Of course, there have also been many challenges, and around the world we continue to face many threats to health.
But our vision remains the same: the highest possible standard of health for all people.
And our conviction remains the same: health as a fundamental human right, an end in itself, and also a means to development.
Thank you all for your commitment to realising that right for the people you serve.
My heartfelt thanks once again to the Global Cities Hub for its continued efforts to connect cities, local and regional governments to global health and multilateral initiatives.
Global networks of cities like this one are also a powerful tool for exchanging ideas and lessons learned.
Together, we can create a safer, healthier, and more resilient future for our cities and the people who call them home.
I thank you.