Bring Pandemic Agreement to Fruition, Secretary-General Urges World Health Assembly, Citing Once-in-a-Generation Chance for Ensuring Faster Response to Next Epidemic

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message to the seventy-seventh World Health Assembly, in Geneva today:

This World Health Assembly is vital.  Our world is in trouble – from climate chaos to rising poverty and inequalities and multiplying conflicts.  And when crises rage, health suffers.

We see it across the globe:  more than 20 million children missing routine vaccinations; rising cases of dengue and other diseases — linked with rising global temperatures; cholera outbreaks in more than 20 countries this year alone; and a mountain of evidence that health is a casualty of war.

Millions of people in Sudan and Gaza are at risk of dying — not only from bullets and bombs, but from untreated injuries and disease.  Unprecedented attacks on health care go beyond anything I have seen in my time as Secretary-General.

This World Health Assembly is an opportunity to address many global health challenges.  And to revitalize our international architecture — building the systems we need for the crises we know will come.

The Pandemic Agreement is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to ensure the global health system can respond more quickly — and equitably — when the next pandemic strikes.

I urge you to bring it to fruition; and to support amendments to the International Health Regulations, boosting our ability to respond to emergencies; to agree on the General Programme of Work — the world’s health strategy for the next four years, with a new vision to promote, provide and protect health; and to strengthen WHO’s funding — giving it the security and predictability it needs to stand strong at the heart of our international efforts.

I also urge all countries to push for further progress at the Summit of the Future later this year:  This is an opportunity to drive forward efforts on financing for development — including health — and to establish an Emergency Platform to convene all stakeholders immediately in response to global shocks.

Let’s seize this chance.  Make this World Health Assembly count.  And help build a healthier, safer, fairer world for us all.