Your Excellency João Lourenço, President of Angola,
Your Excellency António Costa, President of the European Council,
Your Excellency Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, Chair of the African Union Commission,
Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,
I thank Your Excellency President Lourenço for hosting this meeting, and for your hospitality.
Yesterday, thank you for the visit. I visited two health facilities, and I was impressed with the health care which is freely provided.
I met some people who were benefiting from kidney dialysis, and of course, these people cannot afford to pay the costs of dialysis, but I was very happy to see that the expense was fully covered.
I would like to use this opportunity also to commend you on the decline in maternal mortality, under-five mortality and infant mortality in Angola, and for your strong commitment to health.
My thanks also to the African Union and the European Union for the invitation to address you, and for your longstanding and continuing support for the World Health Organization and its central role in the global health architecture.
Our partnership is more important now than ever.
Sudden and unplanned cuts to global aid are causing widespread disruption to health systems and services in many African countries.
These cuts have exposed and amplified long-standing vulnerabilities, including soaring debt burdens and shrinking fiscal space.
I have said many times that in this crisis lies an opportunity—an opportunity to leave behind the era of aid dependency, and embrace a new era of sovereignty, self-reliance, and solidarity.
As we all know, Africa’s health sovereignty is not a new ambition.
It was part of the Africa We Want 2063 vision in 2013, when I was Foreign Minister of Ethiopia, and I had the privilege of chairing the African Union’s Executive Council of Foreign Ministers, and I was glad that Mahmoud was Foreign Minister as well at that time.
And it has been reinforced many times since then.
The ambition is not new; what’s new is the opportunity.
In the short-term, WHO is supporting countries to develop affordable essential health benefit packages;
To introduce or increase health taxes on tobacco, alcohol and sugary drinks;
Through investment in domestic manufacturing and other initiatives.
In the longer term, countries can strengthen risk-sharing mechanisms to improve financial protection, including through publicly-financed health insurance.
Earlier this month, WHO issued new guidance on how countries can implement immediate measures and longer-term shifts.
All of this work builds on our efforts over many years to strengthen national and regional capacity in our continent:
With the steadfast support of the European Union, we have supported many countries on our continent to strengthen the foundations of their health systems through the UHC Partnership.
Again, in partnership with the European Union, we have also supported local manufacturing, though the mRNA Technology Transfer Programme, which is now sharing technology from its base in South Africa with a network of 15 partner countries globally.
We have helped to strengthen regulatory capacity, nationally and regionally.
So far, nine national regulators on the continent have reached Maturity level 3: Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe.
We’re also working with the EU through the African Medicines Regulatory Harmonization initiative.
We’re also supporting strong regional institutions, including the African Medicines Agency and the Africa CDC. Strong continental institutions are important for the continent’s development, and we will continue to support them.
Excellencies, the opportunity we are facing may not have arisen in the right way – but it’s an opportunity we must take.
I am pleased to see many leaders saying they are ready to take that opportunity and push for self-reliance.
Africa does not want charity; Africa wants fair terms.
WHO remains totally committed to working with all Member States in the AU and EU, and with all partners to realise our shared vision for health – not as a luxury for some, but a right for all.
I thank you.