Your Excellency Ambassador Majid Al Suwaidi,
Your Excellency AbdulRahman bin Mohammad Al Owais,
Jason Carter,
Dear honoured guests, colleagues and friends,
This is indeed a historic moment. The first health day at a COP comes to an end.
Thank you, Your Excellency, for your leadership in making health a key priority in the UAE’s COP28 Presidency. It is long overdue.
I have just come from the first COP climate-health ministerial meeting, which brought together ministers of health, climate, environment and finance.
It was an opportunity to bridge political siloes, highlight the effects of climate change on health, and identify solutions to protect health and build climate-resilient health systems.
At the end, over 125 ministers endorsed a landmark declaration that reflects the shared views and aspirations of countries to safeguard and invest in their people’s health and well-being.
It constitutes a milestone for the inclusion of health in climate action and negotiations.
Today, we also saw donors and countries come together in solidarity at the Reaching the Last Mile Forum, which raised 777 million US dollars towards eliminating neglected tropical diseases. A big thank you to everyone that worked so hard.
I would like to take this opportunity to honour someone who has made neglected tropical diseases far less neglected – Former US President Jimmy Carter.
President Carter’s unwavering commitment led to a historic meeting with His Highness Sheikh Zayed, the Founding Father of the UAE, which resulted in their shared commitment to eradicating Guinea worm disease.
That meeting ignited over 30 years of action to eradicate NTDs and consign these ancient diseases of poverty to the history books.
I would also like to take a moment to acknowledge the late Mrs Rosalynn Carter, whose lifetime commitment of service is emulated in her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, who are here with us today.
It is the continued legacy of pioneers such as President and Mrs Carter that will help us achieve our shared vision of sustainable climate action and health for all.
Greta Thunberg has said that COP meetings are just “Blah blah blah”. Is she right?
Well, that’s up to us. It’s up to us to walk the talk, and to honour the commitments we make. We can only do that together.
Together, we must deliver on the Paris Agreement, and accelerate the phase out of fossil fuels to save a million lives a year from air pollution;
Together, we must build health systems that are both climate-resilient and low-carbon;
And together, we must scale up finance for climate and health, to invest in saving lives and improving the health of the most vulnerable.
The partnerships we have forged today are a strong step in this direction. I hope that the new partnerships forged here today will continue to flourish and join together with longstanding ones to deliver on our shared vision.
My thanks once again to Your Excellency for your leadership, and your partnership.
WHO remains committed to working with you, and all partners here, to ensure health keeps its rightful place on the climate agenda.
I thank you.