Happy to be in #Qatar 🇶🇦 together with @WHOEMRO Director today. We met with Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari, Minister @MOPHQatar, Khalifa Al-Kuwari, @qatar_fund Director, their teams and @MofaQatar_EN representatives, to discuss 🇶🇦's support for health in #Afghanistan.
We thank #Qatar 🇶🇦 for its generous support to the people of #Afghanistan through medical and aid supply flights, including @WHO's, and hosting evacuees. Impressive whole of government and whole of society approach to helping the Afghan people.
We visited #Qatar Housing Compound where Afghan people have been evacuated. The compound was built for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, but has been repurposed now. Very glad that the local & international community has stepped up to donate food, clothes & other supplies to the compound.
#Qatar’s health workforce has been mobilized to provide health care in the compound, including immunization, mental health support, pediatric care, maternity and newborn services, and other essential care. My deep gratitude to these #healthworkers for their great work.
Very touched with meeting in person Afghan evacuees in 🇶🇦. Some are journalists, doctors & artists. I met their children too. One of them is Leila. She wants to be a doctor when she grows up. We must #StayAndDeliver so that Leila & other Afghan children can reach their dreams!
I’m moved by the 🇶🇦 government & people's commitment, kindness & generosity in responding to calls for support in #Afghanistan. They are setting a good example that I hope other countries will follow. @WHO will #StayAndDeliver help to all the Afghan people.
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.@WHOEMRO Director Al Mandhari and I met with the Taliban leadership to discuss the current health situation in #Afghanistan and the needs of Afghan #healthworkers to prevent the health system from collapsing.
The acute challenges of #Afghanistan's health system are: lack of equipment, medicines and personnel; funds needed to continue the Sehatmandi programme and pay #healthworkers; and brain drain. All these are already causing deaths among Afghan people.
The pause in funding of the Sehatmandi programme has caused disruptions in access to healthcare, especially for mothers and children in rural areas. Over 2300 health facilities, funded through the programme, are at risk of closing or reducing services.
A shocking imbalance remains in the global distribution of #COVID19 vaccines. Over 3.5 billion vaccines have been distributed globally, but more than 75% of those have gone to just ten countries. The haves are opening up, while the have-nots are locking down. #VaccinEquity
To deliver #VaccinEquity, my sister @NOIweala & I are committed to intensified capacity building & providing robust joint technical assistance to countries on #COVID19 health, intellectual property & trade-related matters.
Our global targets are to vaccinate at least:
10% of the population of every country by September
40% by the end of 2021
70% by mid-2022
To reach these targets & end the #COVID19 pandemic, we need 11 billion doses of vaccine.
Today it was my turn to get vaccinated @Hopitaux_unige against #COVID19. Vaccines save lives. It’s critical to get them to all counties A.S.A.P. If like me you live in a country where vaccines are available, please get vaccinated when it’s your turn.
To make vaccines available to all who need them, governments, manufacturers and other stakeholders must commit to share and produce more doses of #COVID19 vaccines to protect everyone. #VaccinEquity
Today is #InternationalNursesDay. Nurses have been at the core of the #COVID19 response providing life-saving care and, in so many heartbreaking cases, they are there in the last moments of a person’s life. To nurses everywhere, thank you for your tireless commitment!
In this Year of the Health and Care Worker, the #COVID19 pandemic has reminded all of us how much we all depend on nurses, from our first day to our last, and why all countries must invest in nurses now and for the future. #InternationalNursesDay#SupportHealthCareWorkers
Nurses provide essential care in so many areas of our health systems, but we also need their skills and experience in leadership positions, including in senior roles for developing health policies and designing integrated patient-centred health services. #InternationalNursesDay
The spread of variants, increased social mixing, the relaxation of public health and social measures and inequitable vaccination are all driving #COVID19 transmission. Therefore, we need to use every tool at our disposal to drive transmission down, right now.
Even in countries with a downward trend in cases and with the highest #COVID19 vaccination rates, public health capacities must be strengthened to prepare for the possibility of vaccine-evading variants, and for future emergencies.
My message to individuals is - every contact you have with someone outside your household is a risk. The level of risk from #COVID19 varies according to the type of contact, the duration of contact & the level of transmission where you live.
Was a privilege to address the High-level Emergency Meeting of African Health Ministers on #COVID19. @WHO will keep partnering with @_AfricanUnion nations to strengthen public health services & build capacity to generate vaccine supply to end the pandemic bit.ly/3twzTlW
The shocking disparity in global distribution of #COVID19 vaccines is a moral outrage, & economically & epidemiologically self-defeating. Of vaccines administered globally, just 2% have occurred in Africa compared to 80% in high & upper middle-income countries.
The pandemic has shown that #Africa cannot rely on #vaccine imports & must boost its own production capacities. @WHO will continue supporting the @_AfricanUnion to establish the African Medicines Agency to strengthen regulatory capacity and stimulate local production.