Co-chairs, bureau members,
Dear colleagues and friends,
Good afternoon, it’s an honour to join you today.
I would like to thank all of you for your commitment to these historic and vital processes. I cannot underscore enough the importance of the work you are doing.
The COVID-19 pandemic is a historic public health event. Generations of public health students will study it, and the profound effects it had on lives and livelihoods, health systems, societies and economies.
They will analyse the weaknesses and vulnerabilities that allowed the pandemic to happen.
They will learn about the vast inequities in access to vaccines and other tools.
And they will study what the world did to address those vulnerabilities and inequities.
They will learn about the process of strengthening the international health regulations, developing an international pandemic accord, and the forces that shaped those processes.
The question is, what will they learn?
You are deciding that.
The significance of your discussions this week cannot be overstated.
The pandemic affected all countries, so the response must involve all countries, working multilaterally through WHO’s unique mandate in global health.
In its report to the World Health Assembly in 2021, the IHR Review Committee concluded that the IHR fulfils its original aim, and that no major amendments were needed.
They did note however, that the implementation of the IHR by both the WHO Secretariat and States Parties was suboptimal.
We therefore need a stronger IHR, fit-for-purpose and focused on its objective and principles.
But it’s also clear that as a complement to a stronger IHR, the world needs a binding agreement between nations, akin to agreements on other major threats to health including tobacco and climate change.
In December 2021, the Special Session of the World Health Assembly adopted its landmark decision to establish the INB.
Since then, you have discussed multiple drafts, leading now to the Bureau’s text that addresses many key issues:
Strengthening capacities and infrastructure;
A whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach;
Timely and equitable access to pandemic-related products;
Financing of pandemic prevention, preparedness and response;
And guided by the principle of solidarity.
All of these elements are essential, but insufficient on their own.
It is only the combined strength of all of them together that will truly keep the world safer.
Your mandate to develop a new paradigm, a new approach with equity at its core, has never been more important.
An amended IHR that fails to address the gaps exposed by COVID-19 will not make the world safer.
Likewise, a pandemic accord that fails to ensure equitable access to pandemic-related products, fails.
We do not have to choose between equitable access and innovation.
We do not have to choose between protecting public health and making a fair profit.
We can strike a balance.
Harmonization and alignment between the two processes is essential, as well as with the UN General Assembly High-level Meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response, which will be held in just a few weeks’ time.
Next week, Member States will meet to have the fourth hearing on the draft political declaration for the high-level meeting.
We are expecting an ambitious political declaration, that supports the Member State processes in Geneva, while emphasizing WHO at the centre of the global health architecture.
Even as these processes continue, WHO is continuing to work with Member States and partners to strengthen the global health emergency architecture, should the next pandemic erupt tomorrow.
The aim of this work is to bridge gaps, while you discuss sustainable solutions for the future.
I wish to emphasize that the Secretariat’s work is a complement to the work of Member States, and in no way replaces nor pre-empts it.
I applaud the transparency and inclusiveness that the two processes have followed.
Through your efforts, led by your Bureaus, you have an historic opportunity to shape the future of pandemic prevention, preparedness and response for generations to come.
This has been and continues to be a Member State-led process, where sovereign countries are building on the lessons learned to improve for the future.
These are your processes. The WHO Secretariat is here to support you in fulfilling that historic mandate.
Member States must be bold and constructive in their approach and move towards consensus and middle ground. If there is a will, there is always a balance that can bring opposing ideas into the middle.
The world is watching us, and the stakes are high. A bold outcome will be testament to the importance you give to the processes.
As you continue your work, I have four requests for you:
First, I urge you to deliver the pandemic accord in May 2024, as a generational commitment. The next pandemic will not wait for us. We must be ready.
Second, I urge you to deliver strong and effective amendments to the International Health Regulations in May 2024, to improve their implementation. We must seize this opportunity.
Third, I urge you to ensure that any outcome of the High-Level Meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response in September supports and strengthens the Member State-led processes here in Geneva.
And fourth, I urge you to make equity the driving force for change, with solidarity as the moral compass.
I leave you with one final message: Collective action through a multilateral approach to prepare for, prevent and respond to pandemics, is an opportunity to bring us together in an ever-divisive world around a common goal – keeping the world safe.
This is the essence of your mandate for “the world together”.
I thank you.