My brother Alan,
Dear colleagues and friends,
Good morning, it’s an honour to join you.
My thanks to Alan Donnelly and Hatice Beton and their team at the G20 and G7 Health and Development Partnership for their work in organising this event, and for their tireless advocacy for health in the multilateral agenda.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a demonstration of the intimate links between global health and the global economy. It has reminded us that when one is damaged, both suffer.
And while international financing for the COVID-19 response was extraordinary, it was ad hoc, it came late in the pandemic, and it did not generate the return on investment it could have, in both health and economic terms.
The Pandemic Fund was established to address critical gaps in pandemic preparedness, especially in lower income countries.
But we still do not have all of the financing tools we need to tackle the next pandemic.
And there are already worrying signs that the cycle of panic and neglect is repeating.
The World Economic Forum’s Global Risk Report, a survey of 1200 leaders that ranks the likely impact of risks, found that infectious diseases only number 27 out of 32 perceived risks over the long term.
And in terms of risk preparedness, the same survey finds that leaders perceive infectious diseases as the risk for which the world is best prepared, after terrorist attacks.
We see things very differently.
At a time when health systems are scarred from the pandemic and are badly in need of support, it is especially alarming that fiscal space for investment in public health preparedness is rapidly contracting, as the World Bank outlined in its recent “double shock” report.
We must see health not as a cost, but an investment in security, stability, and economic development.
The G7 and G20 have an important role to play, including through the annual meeting of Health and Finance Ministers instituted by Japan during its G20 Presidency in 2019.
Under the Italian Presidency of the G20 in 2021, this element was further strengthened with the establishment of the G20 Joint Finance and Health Task Force, with its Secretariat at WHO.
The Task Force provides space for policy discussions and enhanced coordination between health and finance ministries.
One of the key investments in health will be urgent action to protect and invest in health workers in all countries. Health workers need decent pay and working conditions.
This will require countries to increase investment in health workforce education and jobs to meet their population needs and health system demands. This requires political leadership across all sectors, not just health.
Cooperation between health and finance is important, but WHO is also working to change the narrative about how health is valued.
In 2020, WHO created the Council on the Economics of Health for All to put “health for all” at the centre of how we think about value creation and economic growth.
The Council recently launched its final report during the World Health Assembly, with several strong recommendations for how we value human and planetary well-being, rather than a crude focus on GDP. I commend the report to you.
The report reveals that many of the structural inequities that were exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic existed long before its onset and will persist unless we take decisive action.
It is crucial to increase investments in prevention and to ensure equitable access to health innovations, with a steadfast commitment to the common good and the recognition of healthy societies as intrinsic contributors to collective well-being.
I also welcome the “Roadmap to Sustainable Finance in Health” report being launched at this summit by the G20 Health and Development Partnership, which has much synergy with the report of the WHO Council on the Economics of Health for All.
The report suggests the need to define sustainable finance for health and provides important recommendations on how to effectively bridge the disconnect between the health and investor communities to further unlock private or impact capital, in addition to concessional funds.
Finally, sustainable financing for health includes sustainable financing for the world’s health organization.
At the World Health Assembly last year, our Member States made a historic decision to increase assessed contributions to 50% of our base budget over the next decade.
At this year’s Assembly, just a month ago, Member States made a significant step towards that target by committing to a 20% increase in assessed contributions in the next biennial budget.
This commitment will help us to deliver more predictable high-quality support to countries, and to deliver an impact where it matters most – in the lives of the people and communities we serve.
Let me leave you with three requests.
First, as the COVID-19 pandemic moved out of the headlines over the past year, we have seen political and financial attention shifting to other priorities, including the war in Ukraine, rising food and energy prices, and more.
Of course, all of these are serious issues that demand attention. But the risk is that health is forgotten. In fact, all these issues have a health component.
So we seek your continued advocacy for financing for health in the G7 and G20. We must ensure that the cycle of panic and neglect does not repeat, and that health remains a permanent fixture on the multilateral agenda.
Second, we seek your support for the pandemic accord that countries are now negotiating.
We are the generation that lived through COVID-19, so we must be the generation to learn the lessons it taught us, and make the changes we need to make to keep ourselves and each other safer.
So we seek your advocacy for a strong accord, and your commitment to fight misinformation and disinformation about the accord.
Some people and media have said that by signing the accord, countries will cede sovereignty to WHO.
Let me say clearly that this is simply untrue. WHO will not gain any power to override domestic policy decisions. Nor would we want to.
The pandemic accord is an agreement that is being negotiated by countries, for countries, and will be implemented by countries in accordance with their own national laws.
And third, we seek your support for a new paradigm for how health is valued. We need a global movement that looks beyond GDP and sees healthy people as the foundation of healthy economies and flourishing societies.
Thank you all once again for your support for WHO’s work, and for making health not a cost, but an investment in a healthier, safer and fairer future for all people.
I thank you.