Thread by @WHO

LIVE with @DrTedros at the @WorldHealthSmt opening. #WHS2021 twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1…

@DrTedros @WorldHealthSmt "That first @WorldHealthSmt, in 2009, was held in the immediate aftermath of the global financial crisis, and in the shadow of the H1N1 pandemic. In the 12 years since then, the World Health Summit has become a landmark on the global health calendar"-@DrTedros #WHS2021

@DrTedros @WorldHealthSmt "That’s why, together with Professor Axel Pries, we have decided to join forces to organize a joint @WorldHealthSmt in October 2022, to engage an even broader group of actors, committed to multilateral action for global health"-@DrTedros #WHS2021

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1452382448659140615?s=20

@DrTedros @WorldHealthSmt "12 years since the first @WorldHealthSmt, we meet once again in the shadow of a pandemic. And we are faced once again with some very big questions: some of the same ones we were asking in 2009 that remain unanswered, and some new ones"-@DrTedros #WHS2021

@DrTedros @WorldHealthSmt "One of the questions I am asked most often is: when will this pandemic end?

My answer is that the #COVID19 pandemic will end when the world chooses to end it. It is in our hands"-@DrTedros #WHS2021

@DrTedros @WorldHealthSmt "We have all the tools we need: effective public health tools, and effective medical tools.

But the world has not used those tools well.

With almost 50,000 deaths a week, the pandemic is far from over – and that’s just the reported deaths"-@DrTedros #WHS2021

@DrTedros @WorldHealthSmt "We have set a target to vaccinate 40% of the population of every country by the end of this year. That target is reachable, but only if the countries and companies that control supply match their statements with actions"-@DrTedros #VaccinEquity

"There are few things that I would like to propose that we need to do:
The countries that have already reached the 40% target – including all @G20 countries – must give their place in the vaccine delivery queue to #COVAX and AVAT"-@DrTedros #VaccinEquity #WHS2021

"The @g20org countries must fulfil their dose-sharing commitments immediately;

Manufacturers must prioritize and fulfil their contracts with COVAX and AVAT as a matter of urgency, and be far more transparent about what’s going where"-@DrTedros #VaccinEquity #WHS2021

"And they must share know-how, technology and licences, and also including the waiver of intellectual property rights. If we do this, we can end the #COVID19 pandemic and speed up the global recovery"-@DrTedros #VaccinEquity #WHS2021

"The second major question the pandemic is asking us is, how will we prevent this happening again? How do we make the 🌍 safer?
In its first report in 2019, @TheGPMB warned that the world was unprepared for a pandemic, just months before #COVID19 struck"-@DrTedros #WHS2021

"4️⃣ areas in which the global health architecture must be strengthened.
1️⃣ governance.
For the past 20 years, the response to every crisis or health threat has been to create a new institution or mechanism, with new governance structures, & new funding needs"-@DrTedros #WHS2021

@DrTedros "The result is a global health architecture that is complex & fragmented. That’s why we believe the time has come for a legally-binding intl. agreement on pandemic preparedness & response, which will be the focus of Special Session of the World Health Assembly"-@DrTedros #WHS2021

@DrTedros "2️⃣ financing.
Cycles of panic and neglect have created a financing ecosystem that is insufficient, inefficient and inequitable. It’s clear that we need a substantial increase in funding for national and global preparedness and response"-@DrTedros #WHS2021

"Crucially, any new financing facilities must be built using existing financial institutions, rather than creating new ones that further fragment the global health architecture"-@DrTedros #WHS2021

"More broadly, it’s clear that we need a new narrative for the way health is financed, which is why earlier this year we established the Council on the Economics of Health for All, led by Professor @MazzucatoM"-@DrTedros #WHS2021

"3️⃣ systems and tools.
#COVID19 has exposed serious gaps in the global ability to prepare for, prevent, detect and respond rapidly to outbreaks with epidemic and pandemic potential. We need new tools, across the One Health spectrum"-@DrTedros #WHS2021

"WHO has already taken steps to build some of those tools, including the new Hub for Epidemic and Pandemic Intelligence here in Berlin, which I had the honour to open with Chancellor Merkel and Minister @jensspahn last month"-@DrTedros #WHS2021

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1433050831566172162?s=20

"I also had the honour of joining President @EmmanuelMacron to break ground on the new #WHOAcademy in Lyon, which will be a state-of-the-art school, using cutting edge technologies to support lifelong learning for 👩‍⚕️ & public health professionals around the world"-@DrTedros

"4️⃣ WHO itself.
Beyond the response to #COVID19, WHO continues to respond to dozens of other emergencies around the 🌍, to support countries to address the burden of communicable & noncommunicable diseases, & to address the determinants of health"-@DrTedros #WHS201

"Earlier this month, we recommended broad use of the world’s first #malaria vaccine, a new tool against an old disease that could save millions of lives"-@DrTedros #WHS2021

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1445776305945935884?s=20

"On #polio, only two cases have been reported in Afghanistan and Pakistan so far this year, the lowest in history, and no case has been reported for nine months - opening up better opportunities for eradication"-@DrTedros #EndPolio #WHS2021

https://twitter.com/DrTedros/status/1452192556423467012?s=20

"In 2019, we reached agreement with 11 of the world’s biggest food companies to eliminate industrially produced trans-fats from the global food supply by 2023, and most companies say they have already achieved this goal"-@DrTedros #BeatNCDs #WHS2021

"We have also launched a programme to certify countries that have eliminated trans fats from their national food supply. And we hope this will have significant impact on the control of noncommunicable diseases"-@DrTedros #BeatNCDs #WHS2021

"On childhood cancer, we are:
-actively supporting 50 countries
-providing medicines in conflict settings
-doubling the 👨‍⚕️ in some countries
-supporting the construction of new cancer centres & legislation development to guarantee access to care throughout the lifetime"-@DrTedros

"On #ClimateChange, we’re supporting 14 countries, especially small island developing states, with investments at country level for climate-resilient and environmentally sustainable health facilities"-@DrTedros #ClimateAction #WHS2021

@DrTedros "And day by day, we continue to support countries to strengthen their health systems, especially #primaryhealthcare, on their journey towards universal health coverage. This is the unglamorous but indispensable work that only WHO can do"-@DrTedros #HealthForAll #WHS2021

@DrTedros "Frankly, the 🌍 doesn’t need another structure or institution. We have enough institutions, including WHO. It needs a strengthened, empowered and sustainably financed institutions, including WHO at the centre of the global health architecture"-@DrTedros #WHS2021

@DrTedros "Let me leave you with 3️⃣ specific requests:

1️⃣ we must end this pandemic, by pulling out all the stops to reach our target of vaccinating 40% of the population of every country by the end of this year"-@DrTedros #VaccinEquity #WHS2021

@DrTedros "2️⃣ we must prevent the next pandemic, with better governance, financing, systems and tools, and by strengthening WHO.

3️⃣ all countries must invest in #primaryhealthcare as the foundation of universal health coverage"-@DrTedros #HealthForAll #WHS2021

@DrTedros "The #COVID19 pandemic has demonstrated beyond doubt that health is not a luxury for the rich, or simply an outcome of development; it’s a fundamental human right, and the basis of social, economic and political stability"-@DrTedros #WHS2021

@DrTedros "No country can end the #COVID19 pandemic in isolation from the rest of the world. And no country can protect the health of its own people without working to protect the health of all people"-@DrTedros #WHS2021