Your Excellency, Minister of Health Putranto,
Excellencies, Honorable Ministers, dear friends,
It is an honor to speak with you today, on the occasion of our first virtual World Health Assembly.
My thanks to the Government of Indonesia for its leadership as the Chair of FPGH, and particularly for its work highlighting the crucial values of multilateralism and international cooperation.
These values, which underpin the work of the FPGH, are especially important as the world takes on the COVID-19 pandemic.
As of this morning, WHO has received reports of more than 4.5 million cases of COVID-19. More than 320,000 people have lost their lives.
It is now more than three months since I declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern over the outbreak of novel coronavirus.
Let me give you a brief overview of the work WHO is doing, in our role coordinating the global response to the pandemic.
WHO has worked day in, day out to sound the alarm, support countries and save lives.
We’ve worked with countries to help them prepare and respond.
We’ve brought countries together to share lessons learned.
We’ve brought together thousands of experts to analyze the evolving evidence and distil it into over 100 pieces of guidance.
We’ve launched a large international trial to find answers fast about which drugs are the most effective.
We’ve shipped millions of test kits and tons of protective gear all around the world, focusing on those countries who need our support most.
We’ve trained more than 2 million health workers around the world. We are continuing to train more.
We’ve worked with tech companies to fight the infodemic.
We've developed research protocols, to understand the transmission, epidemiology and clinical features of the virus, which are being used in almost 60 countries.
Last month, WHO, together with global health actors, private sector partners and other stakeholders, launched the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator.
This is a global collaboration to accelerate the development, production, and equitable distribution of COVID-19 diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines.
Through the EU International Pledging Conference, €7.4 billion have already been pledged.
But even as the research races ahead, early serological studies show that most of the world's population is still susceptible to COVID-19.
Until there is a vaccine, a comprehensive package of public health measures is our most effective set of tools to tackle the virus.
That means test, track, isolate, and treat, combined with physical distancing when necessary.
As public policy leaders, we cannot always be reacting, we have to be thinking ahead, which is why our best defense for health emergencies is preparedness.
We must invest in strong health systems and affordable primary health care that both provide essential health services and public health functions, with robust detection, response, and prevention capabilities.
The impact of COVID-19 in terms of lives lost, damage to livelihoods and its socio-economic consequences, is a reminder that preparedness is a wise investment in the future.
But doing nothing can be the most expensive thing of all.
Which brings us to cities. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted that our cities and urban settings are particularly vulnerable to outbreaks.
As we've seen, even mature health systems are at risk of being overwhelmed.
This is a great challenge, but it is also an opportunity, an opportunity for countries and cities to join forces with WHO to build a Global Cities Network for Health Emergency Preparedness.
Investments for COVID-19 should be applied in a way that sets the stage for longer-term preparedness and wider health benefits, in line with national needs.
At the same time, we are extremely worried about reports of cases in humanitarian settings, such as in South Sudan and among the Rohingya in Cox’s Bazaar, and in Yemen.
For all of the uncertainties of the past few months, in some ways the COVID-19 pandemic brings us back to first principles.
Strong, resilient health systems which are affordable, are at the core of achieving universal health coverage and the health targets of the Sustainable Development Goals.
The pandemic has made it clear that we are one world that has more in common with each other than we’d ever thought.
Only through solidarity - through working together and supporting each other - will we get through this.
WHO looks forward to working closely with FPGH to promote and reinforce multilateralism and the importance of building preparedness capacity for global health security, especially through linkages with foreign policy.
I thank you.