Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,
I thank the Nizami Ganjavi International Center for hosting this event, and for your leadership and close partnership.
War is not a natural disaster. It is a man-made disaster.
It is also an affront to nature, with far-reaching consequences for human health and the natural world.
70% of the disease outbreaks that WHO responds to take place in fragile, conflict-affected, disaster-prone and vulnerable settings.
In an era when the forces of division and isolationism are tearing at the fabric of global health security, the links between health and peace are laid bare.
As we see every day in the headlines, from Ukraine to Syria to Tigray, Ethiopia, prolonged conflicts frequently lead to epidemics and starvation.
They do lasting damage to health systems, critical infrastructure, and essential medical supply chains.
Health workers are forced to flee from the very places where they are needed the most, while those who stay may be attacked.
Let’s be crystal clear: Health care is never a legitimate target.
War shakes and shatters the foundations on which previously stable societies stood.
It deprives whole communities of essential health services, leaving children at risk of vaccine preventable diseases; women at increased risk of sexual violence; expectant mothers at risk of an unsafe birth; and people who live with communicable and noncommunicable diseases without access to the lifesaving services and treatments on which they depend.
And it leaves psychological scars that can take years or decades to heal.
For these reasons, I decided to make “Health for peace and peace for health” the theme of this year’s World Health Assembly in May.
There can be no health without peace.
During El Salvador’s Civil War, one-day ceasefires called “days of tranquillity” were declared three times a year, to allow the vaccination of children against polio, measles and more.
Since then, Days of Tranquillity have been used in Afghanistan, Côte d’Ivoire, Peru, Uganda and elsewhere.
Equally, there can be no peace without health.
This is not a new idea.
75 years ago, the authors of the WHO Constitution wrote that the health of all peoples is fundamental to the attainment of peace and security.
Health can help with peace building, by improving equitable access to health services and providing mental health and psychosocial support in conflict-affected communities.
This can help address the triggers of conflict, such as unequal access to health care, which can often lead to feelings of exclusion and resentment.
Equitable health services strengthen community trust, which in turn contributes to strengthening health systems and peace building.
Through WHO’s Global Health for Peace Initiative, we work to strengthen the links between health, social cohesion, and peace, by focusing on the unique role that public health programs and health workers can play in convening communities, and building trust.
Health plays a vital role, not only in alleviating suffering in conflict, but in addressing some of the underlying causes of conflict.
WHO supports countries to design health interventions that are context-specific and conflict-sensitive.
This is an important distinction, because public health efforts in violence-affected settings must first build trust with communities and adapt to the local situation, or they may be counter-productive and lead to protests or violence.
Inclusive dialogue and the equitable provision of health services can bring people together and reinforce trust – between communities and governments; between patients and health workers; and between conflicting parties.
Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,
Health is one of the few areas in which nations can work together across ideological divides to find common solutions to common problems, and build bridges.
We need peace for health, and health for peace.
I thank you.