President Ramaphosa, Excellencies,
WHO welcomes the G20’s endorsement of health security and resilient health systems in the Declaration, and the voluntary high-level principles for investing in disaster risk reduction.
Likewise, we welcome the South African Presidency’s focus on critical infrastructure.
Strong health systems and early warning capacities are vital for preventing crises from becoming disasters.
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed critical gaps in the world’s health security defences.
We thank the G20 for its leadership in closing those gaps, including through the establishment of the Pandemic Fund and the Joint Finance-Health Task Force.
In addition, WHO has launched several initiatives for global health security, based on COVID lessons.
As you know, at the World Health Assembly this year, WHO Member States adopted the WHO Pandemic Agreement, which when ratified will become a landmark instrument of international law.
Member States are now negotiating the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing system – the PABS Annex – which will be critical for ensuring equitable access to vaccines and other medical countermeasures.
We ask G20 countries to ensure those negotiations are completed in time for next year’s World Health Assembly in May.
Because the next pandemic is not a question of if, but when.
I thank you.