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WHO Director-General's remarks at the Member State Information Session on COVID-19

Honourable Ministers, Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,

Good morning, good afternoon and good evening to all Member States, and thank you for joining us once again.

Yesterday, I returned to Geneva after a trip to Lebanon and Afghanistan with Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari, WHO’s Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean.

Our objective in both countries was to see for ourselves the health challenges communities are facing, and to engage with senior political leaders to assess how best WHO can support health systems that are under severe strain.

In Lebanon, we had the opportunity to meet with the President, the Prime Minister, and also the Minister of Health and others.

The deadly combination of the political and financial crisis, last year’s explosion at Beirut port, and the COVID-19 pandemic are having devastating consequences for the health of Lebanon’s people.

There is a serious shortage of supplies, medical equipment, fuel and electricity.

2000 medical doctors and 1500 registered nurses have left the country, and 600 private pharmacies have closed

WHO continues to work to support the health system and the delivery of essential services and supplies.

For example, last year’s explosion at Beirut port completely destroyed a warehouse used to store essential medicines. With the support of the European Union, Kuwait and Japan, WHO has managed not only to rehabilitate the warehouse, but also to increase its capacity by five times.

In Afghanistan, we met with senior members of the Taliban leadership, including the interim Prime Minister, as well as UN partners, health care workers and patients, and WHO staff.

I believe that engaging the Taliban leadership is essential if we are to support the people of Afghanistan.

Afghanistan’s health system is on the brink of collapse. Unless urgent action is taken, the country faces an imminent humanitarian catastrophe.

The breakdown in health services is affecting the availability of basic and essential health care, as well as emergency response, polio eradication, and COVID-19 vaccination efforts.

The focus of our efforts now is to support and sustain the Sehatmandi project, which is the backbone of Afghanistan’s health system, providing care for millions of people through 2300 health facilities, including in remote areas.

But because of a funding pause by major donors, only 17% of these facilities are fully functional, and two-thirds have stock-outs of essential medicines.

As a stop-gap measure, the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria are financing WHO and our partners to ensure continuity of health services for the next three months. But this is simply not enough.

WHO is calling on international donors to rapidly re-commit to finance Sehatmandi, as they have done for almost two decades.

As you know, Afghanistan is also one of two countries in the world where polio remains endemic. There has only been one case of wild poliovirus reported so far this year, compared with 56 in 2020.

WHO and our partners are ready to begin a country-wide house-to-house polio vaccination campaign and include measles and COVID vaccination in an integrated campaign.

In our discussions with the Taliban leadership, we also offered to support and accelerate the process of reopening high schools to girls, in partnership with other UN agencies.

The education of girls is essential for protecting and promoting population health, but also for building Afghanistan’s health workforce of the future.

We reiterate WHO’s long-term commitment to advancing the health of all Afghans and remind all stakeholders of our collective obligations today and in the months and years ahead.

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Even as we respond to acute emergencies around the world, the Secretariat is also working to address environmental determinants of health, including air pollution and climate change.

Yesterday, we launched the updated WHO Global Air Quality Guidelines, which make a clear case for why we must reduce air pollution.

Since the last update in 2005, a substantial new body of evidence has accumulated, further demonstrating the degree to which air pollution affects all parts of the body, from the brain to a growing baby in a mother’s womb, at even lower concentrations than previously observed.

That is why these new guidelines include lower recommended limits for pollutants including particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide and ozone.

We urge all Member States to read and implement these new guidelines.

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Yesterday I had the honour of speaking at the Global COVID-19 Summit hosted by the United States of America, on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly.

I welcome the support from so many Member States for the Secretariat’s global targets to vaccinate 40% of the population of every country by the end of this year, and 70% by the middle of next year.

And I thank President Biden, not only for hosting, but also for the pledges of 500 million doses, which is significant.

As you know, earlier this year we also set a target to see 10% of the population of every country vaccinated by the end of September.

Almost 90% of wealthier countries have now reached the 10% target. But 50 countries will not get there, mostly in Africa.

At yesterday’s summit, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres repeated his call for a global vaccination plan.

I’m pleased to say that the WHO Secretariat has developed that plan.

Today, Dr Bruce Aylward and Dr Kate O’Brien will present the WHO Strategy for achieving our 70% goal by mid-2022.

Reaching this target requires 11 billion doses of vaccines. So far, 6 billion doses have been administered worldwide.

Global production has been scaling up, and we estimate there is enough supply, but we are failing to provide equitable access.

But about 80 percent of the vaccines have gone to high and upper-middle income countries. Low income countries have received less than 1%.

Let’s be clear: COVID-19 cannot be beaten one country at a time.

My friends, the investment needed to achieve global vaccination coverage is substantial, but compared to the costs we face if this is not brought under control, it is peanuts. Let’s get this finished.

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Even as we work to end this pandemic, the Secretariat is working to put in place the systems and tools that we need to strengthen global health security.

Today you will hear an update from Dr Sylvie Briand on progress we have made on the WHO BioHub, a facility in Switzerland to facilitate the rapid sharing of pathogens with epidemic and pandemic potential.

The BioHub is a voluntary system, with predictable operating procedures to support trust building between participants. It is designed to complement, and not replace, existing systems.

This innovative system for pandemic response is being developed thanks to inputs from Member States.

But we also feel some urgency, as we don’t know when the next pandemic will arrive. We want this system to be up and running when it does.

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Finally, on Monday of next week I will be honoured to join His Excellency President Macron of France for a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the start of construction of the WHO Academy’s campus in Lyon.

The WHO Academy will deploy state-of-the-art technologies to expand access to the highest quality health learning and latest evidence-based health guidance throughout the world.

The event will be live-streamed on the web and social media, and we invite all Member States to join us online.

As always, we are grateful for your engagement with today’s presentation, and we look forward to your questions and comments.

I thank you.