Good morning, good afternoon and good evening.
One month since the ceasefire in Gaza was announced, WHO is continuing to support the reconstruction of Gaza’s health system, and the medical evacuation of patients who need treatment outside Gaza.
Over the past two years, WHO has supported the evacuation of over 8000 patients, including more than 5100 children.
Since WHO took over coordinating medical evacuations in May 2024, we have supported 119 medevac missions, including one today.
I am heartened by the commitment shown by countries to provide urgent care to these patients.
However, more than 16 500 people, including almost 4000 children, are still awaiting evacuation, and more than 900 people have died while waiting for evacuation.
I thank the 30 countries who have accepted patients for care, but we ask more countries to receive more patients.
We also call for the opening of all evacuation routes, particularly to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
===
Today, WHO is publishing this year’s Global Tuberculosis Report, which shows a decline in new TB cases and deaths for the first time since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, the number of people being tested and treated is increasing, and research is advancing.
For the first time in over a century, new, effective TB vaccines for adolescents and adults are within reach.
At least 18 vaccine candidates are currently in clinical development, including six in phase three trials.
Last week, WHO launched a new report that sets out urgent actions to ensure equitable and sustainable access to, and financing for, new TB vaccines when they become available.
Despite all this good news, progress is not victory. TB still killed more than 1.2 million people in 2024, which for a disease that is preventable and curable is simply unconscionable.
In addition, funding cuts to international aid in many low and middle income countries threaten to reverse the hard-won gains we see in today’s report.
It is therefore vital that countries step up domestic resource allocation, alongside international funding.
===
One of the top five drivers of the TB epidemic is tobacco use. People who smoke are twice as likely to develop TB disease.
So to fight TB, we must fight tobacco.
Twenty years ago, the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the FCTC, entered into force – a powerful international treaty to fight the world’s leading cause of preventable death.
Since the FCTC took effect, tobacco use has declined by one third globally, despite the efforts of the tobacco industry to undermine it.
Next week, the Conference of the Parties of the FCTC will hold its biennial meeting, and we are aware of attempts by the tobacco industry to infiltrate and undermine its work.
The success of the FCTC has meant tobacco companies have had to develop new products to attract new customers.
The use of nicotine products such as e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches has expanded rapidly due to aggressive marketing, with bright packaging, sweet flavours, social media influencers, and false claims of “harm reduction”.
Let’s be clear: the companies that make these products are not motivated by harm reduction or health. They are motivated by one thing and one thing only: generating profit for their shareholders.
Today, WHO is publishing a new position paper on tobacco control and harm reduction.
Although e-cigarettes are often promoted as safer alternatives to conventional tobacco products, there is no evidence of their net benefit for public health, but mounting evidence of their harm.
WHO recommends that all countries regulate nicotine pouches, e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products and smokeless tobacco at least as strongly as they regulate conventional tobacco products.
Several countries have prohibited these products. Those that have not should use strict controls on flavours, packaging, marketing and sales, protections against industry interference, and enforcement of age restrictions.
We also urge governments to expand support for proven cessation methods, including counselling and approved nicotine-replacement therapies.
Together, we can stop another generation from being trapped in addiction and protect the gains we have made in tobacco control.
===
Over the next few days, WHO will release several new products to support the health of women and newborns.
The first is for World Diabetes Day this Friday, the 14th of November.
This year, WHO has chosen the theme of diabetes across life stages, which highlights the fact that diabetes can affect people at every moment of life, including during pregnancy.
Diabetes during pregnancy, or gestational diabetes, affects about 21 million women – one in six live births – every year.
It can cause complications including pre-eclampsia, stillbirth, and congenital abnormalities.
Women with gestational diabetes have a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes after childbirth, while their babies are also at increased risk of type 2 diabetes, as well as obesity, cardiovascular disease and hypertension.
WHO has long had guidance on diabetes and guidance on pregnancy, but to mark World Diabetes Day, we are launching our first global guidelines for the management of diabetes during pregnancy.
Second, this Saturday the 15th of November marks the first World Prematurity Day.
Each year, an estimated 15 million babies – one in 10 – are born too soon, 80% of them in low- and middle-income countries.
It’s vital that preterm babies receive special care and attention from the first moments after birth, to preserve their lives, and to give them better health throughout life.
To mark the day, WHO is launching a new global guide on Kangaroo Mother Care – a method of caring for preterm babies that involves skin-to-skin contact and breastfeeding.
And third, next Monday the 17th of November marks the first World Cervical Cancer Elimination Day.
Since we launched our global call to action on cervical cancer elimination in 2018, many countries have scaled up access to screening, treatment and vaccines against human papillomavirus – or HPV – which causes almost all cases of cervical cancer.
Just in the past year, countries including Angola, Cuba, Ghana, Indonesia, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Rwanda, South Africa, Tajikistan and Tunisia have either introduced HPV vaccines into their routine immunization programmes, or conducted large national campaigns, or adopted bold national strategies for cervical cancer elimination.
This week, China became the latest country to introduce the HPV vaccine into its national immunization programme.
Each year, there an estimated 150,000 new cases of cervical cancer in China – almost one quarter of the global burden.
This new policy will not only protect a generation of girls in China, it will have a major impact on the global burden of cervical cancer.
===
Finally, as you know, the United Nations Climate Change Conference – COP30 – is being held this week in Belém, Brazil.
Last week I had the opportunity to be in Belém for the COP30 Leaders’ Summit, where I advocated for health to be more prominent in climate change discussions.
Health is the most compelling reason for climate action, but for too long, health has been a footnote in climate negotiations.
It’s much easier to convince people of the urgency of protecting their own health or that of their children, than to protect glaciers or ecosystems. Both are important. One is a lot closer to home.
Tomorrow is health day at COP30, and to mark the day, Brazil’s Ministry of Health is launching the Belém Health Action Plan - the first international climate change adaptation plan focused exclusively on health.
The Action Plan sets out concrete actions to help countries prepare their health systems and respond to the health impacts of climate change.
I thank President Lula and Brazil for its leadership and partnership in reminding the world that the climate crisis is a health crisis.
Christian, back to you.