Mr Golmohammadi,
Dear colleagues and friends,
First of all, I welcome all of you to WHO for this important occasion.
I would also like thank my colleague Dorine van der Wal for coming up with the idea of the Model WHA, and our colleagues William Yotive and Finn Carlsson, who are part of Dorine’s team, but cannot be with us today.
Every Thursday, I have “open hour” where any staff member can come and talk to me about anything they want, and propose “crazy ideas”.
It was during one of those “open hour” sessions last November that Dorine suggested the idea of a Model WHO, and I immediately said yes. So thank you for brining us together.
More than half of the world’s population is under 35-years-old, and yet young people often have little say in public policy decisions that affect them.
WHO is committed to engaging and partnering with young people by supporting their leadership and advocating for their recognition.
I established the WHO Youth Council to bring together young people from all over the world to provide advice on global health and development issues.
WHO is pleased to collaborate with the World Federation of United Nations Associations to create the Global Model WHO. I look forward to the first conference, to be held this coming February.
Model UN and Model WHO conferences give young people the opportunity to practice the social and leadership skills they will need as part of the global workforce.
Today, we are very pleased to welcome two youth delegates - Riddhi Sen Majumber and Nazerke Tazhigali - who will tell us about their experiences with the Model UN conferences.
Welcome to both of you, and we look forward to hearing what you have to say.
Once again, my thanks to Secretary-General Golmohammadi and the World Federation of United Nations Associations for your partnership.
We look forward to working with you in the coming months and years.
I thank you.