Progress towards Universal Health Coverage ‘Essential to Building Resilient Systems Grounded in Primary Care’, Secretary-General Tells World Assembly

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message for the seventy-eighth World Health Assembly, in Geneva, Switzerland, today:

Excellencies, I am pleased to send my warm greetings to this seventy-eighth World Health Assembly.

In a divided world, you are uniting behind a shared goal to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable.  That is the longstanding mission of the World Health Organization (WHO).  And it is especially crucial at a time of deep reductions in funding for health and development — even while military spending reaches record highs.

Now more than ever, our world needs a coherent global health architecture that responds rapidly to crises and strengthens protection and well-being for all.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted deep gaps in collective preparedness — and served as a powerful reminder that no one is safe until everyone is safe.  The WHO Pandemic Agreement builds upon these lessons — and reflects the power of multilateralism in action.

After years of negotiation and compromise, you have come together to consider this landmark agreement, recognizing that global health emergencies demand global responses.  If adopted, this will be only the second international health convention under the WHO constitution after the Global Convention on Tobacco Control, which came into force 20 years ago.

So, I urge you to make history:  To strengthen global preparedness against pandemics; to ensure equity and solidarity in responding to health threats; and to uphold the promise of health as a fundamental human right — for this generation and the next.

But health is about more than emergencies.

The upcoming high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases and the promotion of mental health offers a crucial opportunity to improve countless lives.

Progress towards universal health coverage is essential to building resilient systems grounded in primary care — and delivering on the 2030 Agenda [for Sustainable Development].

I also urge you to match ambition with resources — by strengthening investment in the World Health Organization and ensuring the sustainability and predictability it needs to build a healthier, safer and fairer world for all.

Thank you.