Thread by @WHO

Media briefing on #COVID19 with @DrTedros pscp.tv/w/cdcvvDI2MTAy…

"Today, WHO is launching the Access Initiative for Quitting Tobacco, which aims to help the world's 1.3 billion tobacco users quit during the #COVID19 pandemic"-@DrTedros #NoTobacco bit.ly/3iRzHcP

"This initiative will help people freely access the resources they need to quit tobacco, like nicotine replacement therapy and access to a digital health worker for advice"-@DrTedros #NoTobacco bit.ly/3iRzHcP

"Smoking kills 8 million people a year, but if users need more motivation to kick the habit, the pandemic provides the right incentive.

Evidence reveals that smokers are more vulnerable than non-smokers to developing a severe case of #COVID19"-@DrTedros #TobaccoExposed

"The project, is led by WHO, together with the @UN Interagency Task Force on Non-communicable Diseases and brings together tech industry, pharmaceutical, and NGO partners like @PATHtweets and the @CoalitionNcd"-@DrTedros #NoTobacco bit.ly/3iRzHcP

"We thank our first manufacturing partners Johnson & Johnson Consumer Health, who donated nearly 40,000 nicotine patches.
We're also pleased to introduce Florence, the 🌍 & WHO's first-ever digital health worker, based on artificial intelligence"-@DrTedros bit.ly/FlorenceNoToba…

"Florence dispels myths around #COVID19 and tobacco and helps people develop a personalized plan to quit.

Florence is available 24/7 via video stream or text to help people access reliable information"-@DrTedros #NoTobacco bit.ly/FlorenceNoToba…

"Florence was created with technology developed by San Francisco and New Zealand based company Soul Machines, with support from Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud"-@DrTedros #NoTobacco bit.ly/FlorenceNoToba…

"WHO is in the final stages of adding more partners and encourages pharmaceutical and tech companies to join this initiative, which will help people reduce their risk of #COVID19 and lead healthier lives"-@DrTedros #NoTobacco bit.ly/FlorenceNoToba…

"We will first launch the initiative in #Jordan and then roll it out globally over the coming months. To tell you more about this initiative, I'd like to introduce my sister Her Royal Highness Princess @dinamired of 🇯🇴"-@DrTedros #NoTobacco bit.ly/FlorenceNoToba…

"Back to #COVID19. Today the world recorded 12 million cases. In the last 6 weeks cases have more than doubled"-@DrTedros

"Across all walks of life, we are all being tested to the limit. For those in poverty, with little or no access to quality health services, it’s not only #COVID19 that threatens lives and livelihoods"-@DrTedros

"Other diseases like #measles, #polio and #malaria all thrive when immunization is paused and supply chains for medical supplies are interrupted"-@DrTedros #COVID19

"WHO continues to work with partners to ensure that the poorest & most marginalized are prioritized.

That means restarting routine immunization & ensuring that medical supplies reach #healthworkers across the world.

There’s a lot of work still to be done"-@DrTedros #COVID19

"From countries where there is exponential growth, to places that are loosening restrictions and now starting to see cases rise.

We need leadership, community participation and collective solidarity"-@DrTedros #COVID19

"Only aggressive action combined with national unity and global solidarity can turn the #COVID19 pandemic around"-@DrTedros

"There are many many examples from around the world that have shown that even if the #COVID19 outbreak is very intense, it can still be brought back under control"-@DrTedros

"In 🇻🇳🇰🇭🇹🇭🇳🇿🇮🇹🇪🇸 & 🇰🇷 & even in Dharavi, a densely packed area in Mumbai, a strong focus on community engagement & the basics of testing, tracing, isolating & treating all those that are sick is key to breaking the chains of transmission & suppressing the virus"-@DrTedros

"Two WHO experts are currently en route to 🇨🇳 to meet with fellow scientists & learn about the progress made in understanding the animal reservoir for #COVID19 & how the disease jumped between animals & humans"-@DrTedros

"This will help lay the ground work for the WHO-led international mission into the origins"-@DrTedros #COVID19

"For all the challenges that #COVID19 has caused, it has also shown the way forward for other challenges that threaten humanity"-@DrTedros #StopDrugResistance

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1281237380935057408?s=20

"The crisis of growing #antimicrobialresistance is a slow motion tsunami where despite the rise in resistant infections, the research and development of new antibiotics has not caught up"-@DrTedros #StopDrugResistance

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1281281472184438784?s=20

"Unless we take quick and sustained action, we risk a doomsday global scenario where common injuries and illnesses return to become major killers"-@DrTedros #StopDrugResistance

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1281256426682429440?s=20

"The AMR Action Fund aims to tackle this by strengthening and accelerating the research and development of antibiotics through game-changing investments into biotechnology companies around the world"-@DrTedros #StopDrugResistance

https://twitter.com/DrTedros/status/1281330856993460227?s=20

"Whether it’s #COVID19 or #AntimicrobialResistance, the best shot we have is to work together in national unity and global solidarity"-@DrTedros

The full remarks by @DrTedros 👇
bit.ly/2ZeinqT