"Yesterday, I made my remarks on the theme of health for peace and peace for health, which Member States will discuss in the general debate. I want to start today by looking back, to where we have been over the past five years"-@DrTedros#WHA75
@DrTedros "You elected me 5 short years ago, with an ambitious agenda for universal health coverage; health emergencies; women's, children's and adolescents' health; the health impacts of climate and environmental change; and a transformed WHO"-@DrTedros#WHA75
@DrTedros "Those priorities evolved into the 13th General Programme of Work and the “triple billion” targets, which the Health Assembly adopted in 2018"-@DrTedros#WHA75bit.ly/30QTMcf
@DrTedros "The WHO Results Report for 2020-21 provides a detailed and interactive presentation of our work over the past two years against each of the “triple billion” targets. I commend it to you"-@DrTedros#WHA75
@DrTedros "I also want to reflect on everything we have achieved together over the past five years.
Progress isn’t always fast or easy to measure. But in ways small and large, seen and unseen, I am proud to say that this Organization is making a difference"-@DrTedros#WHA75
@DrTedros "Let me start with our efforts to see 1 billion people enjoying better health and well-being.
Our projection is that we will almost reach this target by 2023, but progress is only about one quarter of what is required to reach the relevant @GlobalGoalsUN targets"-@DrTedros#WHA75
In addressing the risk factors for noncommunicable diseases, many countries are making progress by reducing the use of health-harming products"-@DrTedros#BeatNCDs#WHA75
@DrTedros@GlobalGoalsUN "Tobacco use continues to decline. Since 2018, the number of countries on track to meet the target of a 30% reduction in tobacco use between 2010 and 2025 almost doubled, from 32 to 60 countries"-@DrTedros#WHA75#NoTobacco
@DrTedros@GlobalGoalsUN "Since we launched our REPLACE initiative in 2018, mandatory policies prohibiting the use of industrially-produced trans fat have been introduced in 58 countries accounting for 40% of the world’s population"-@DrTedros#BeatNCDs#WHA75
@DrTedros@GlobalGoalsUN "And in the past five years, more than two-thirds of Member States have either introduced or increased excise taxes on at least one health-harming product, such as tobacco, alcohol or sugary drinks"-@DrTedros#BeatNCDs#WHA75
@DrTedros@GlobalGoalsUN "At the same time, WHO has supported countries to create the environment and living conditions in which health can flourish.
At #COP26 last year, more than 50 countries agreed to take concrete steps to develop climate-resilient, low-carbon health systems"-@DrTedros#WHA75
@DrTedros@GlobalGoalsUN "We issued new #AirPollution guidelines, setting new limits for air quality based on mounting evidence of the harms to health of air pollution at even lower concentrations than previously thought"-@DrTedros#WHA75
@DrTedros@GlobalGoalsUN "71 countries are now using WHO guidelines or tools on the health response to violence against women.
Road deaths have stabilized, despite a continued rise in the number of cars"-@DrTedros#WHA75
@DrTedros@GlobalGoalsUN "And the Global Network for Age-friendly Cities and Communities was expanded, supporting more than 1300 cities in 52 countries to become better places in which to live and age"-@DrTedros#WHA75
@DrTedros@GlobalGoalsUN "Now to our efforts to see 1 billion more people benefitting from universal health coverage by 2023.
We are far behind, and progress is less than one quarter of what is required to reach the “triple billion” target"-@DrTedros#HealthForAll#WHA75
@DrTedros@GlobalGoalsUN "Nevertheless, we have many achievements to be proud of over the past five years in our work to strengthen health systems and respond to communicable and noncommunicable diseases"-@DrTedros#HealthForAll#WHA75
@DrTedros@GlobalGoalsUN "At the political level, we saw two major commitments, with the Astana Declaration on Primary Health Care in 2018, and the political declaration on universal health coverage at the #UNGA in 2019"-@DrTedros#HealthForAll#WHA75
Since 2015, 95% of these countries have made progress towards increased service coverage"-@DrTedros#WHA75
@DrTedros@GlobalGoalsUN "We have also seen encouraging trends in our work to strengthen the global health workforce. Between 2013 and 2020, the number of #healthworkers globally increased by 29%"-@DrTedros#WHA75
@DrTedros@GlobalGoalsUN "Previously, we projected a global shortage of 18 million #healthworkers by 2030. That projected shortage has now shrunk to 15 million – but it is still a massive shortage"-@DrTedros#WHA75
@DrTedros@GlobalGoalsUN "In the past 5 years, we've also made significant progress in expanding access to medicines & other essential health products. We have prequalified 53 vaccines, 50 in-vitro diagnostics & 288 medicines, incl. new therapies for HIV, hepatitis, TB, malaria, NTDs, #COVID19"-@DrTedros
@DrTedros@GlobalGoalsUN "We also prequalified two biosimilar cancer medicines and launched a pilot programme to prequalify human insulin, to make these life-saving but expensive therapies more affordable and accessible"-@DrTedros#WHA75
@DrTedros@GlobalGoalsUN "During the pandemic we gave Emergency Use Listing (EUL) to 12 #COVID19 💉 & 28 in-vitro diagnostics. Within 15 days of EUL of vaccines, 101 countries issued their own regulatory authorization, illustrating the weight that the countries place on WHO’s stamp of approval"-@DrTedros
@DrTedros@GlobalGoalsUN "We have assessed regulatory systems in 80 countries, and supported 10 new countries to develop to higher regulatory levels, including four in Africa: Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania"-@DrTedros#WHA75
@DrTedros@GlobalGoalsUN "Recognizing that almost 90% of Member States report the use of traditional medicine, last month we established the Global Centre for Traditional Medicine in 🇮🇳, to create a reliable body of evidence & data for practices & products that millions of people use"-@DrTedros#WHA75
@DrTedros@GlobalGoalsUN "On communicable diseases, WHO guidelines have supported major gains in #HIV testing and treatment, resulting in a 32% decline in HIV mortality since 2016. We have validated 15 countries for the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and/or syphilis"-@DrTedros#WHA75
@DrTedros@GlobalGoalsUN "The @GlobalGoalsUN target on #hepatitis B has been met, and since 2015 the number of people who have received treatment for hepatitis C has increased 9-fold to 9.4 million, reversing the trend of increasing mortality for the first time"-@DrTedros#WHA75
@DrTedros@GlobalGoalsUN "Since 2012, nine more countries have been certified as #malaria free, and cases in the Greater Mekong have dropped by almost 90%. And for the first time, we have a malaria vaccine. More than 1 million children in 🇬🇭, 🇰🇪 & 🇲🇼 have now received at least one dose"-@DrTedros#WHA75
@DrTedros@GlobalGoalsUN "Widespread use of this [#malaria] vaccine, as WHO recommended last year, could save tens of thousands of young lives, especially in Africa, every year"-@DrTedros#WHA75
@DrTedros@GlobalGoalsUN "In the past five years, 14 additional countries and territories eliminated at least one neglected tropical disease.
Cases of African trypanosomiasis have declined by 90% in ten years"-@DrTedros#WHA75
@DrTedros@GlobalGoalsUN "And only 15 cases of #GuineaWorm disease were reported last year, compared with 3.5 million in the mid-1980s. Just two cases have been reported so far this year"-@DrTedros#WHA75
@DrTedros@GlobalGoalsUN "Our dream of a #polio-free world is tantalisingly close, with four cases of wild poliovirus reported so far this year in Afghanistan and Pakistan – although two new cases in Malawi and Mozambique are a setback"-@DrTedros#EndPolio#WHA75
@DrTedros@GlobalGoalsUN "Our investments in #polio will not end when polio ends. The infrastructure & expertise we have built is already being used to deliver other vaccines & health services, incl. for #COVID19.
And we've made significant progress in our response to #antimicrobialresistance"-@DrTedros
@DrTedros@GlobalGoalsUN@miaamormottley "On noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), over the past five years WHO has supported 36 countries to integrate services to prevent, detect and treat NCDs into primary health care programmes, and we have supported 25 countries with rehabilitation services"-@DrTedros#WHA75
@DrTedros@GlobalGoalsUN@miaamormottley "Over 3 million people in 18 countries have gained access to treatment for hypertension, with increasing use of the WHO HEARTS package of interventions. Over 30 countries have developed policies or programmes to improve access to childhood #cancer care"-@DrTedros#BeatNCDs#WHA75
@DrTedros@GlobalGoalsUN@miaamormottley "Now to our work on emergencies. It’s clear that the world was – and remains – unprepared for a pandemic. Every month, WHO processes more than 9 million pieces of information, screens 43000signals, reviews 4500 events, and verifies an average of 30 events"-@DrTedros#WHA75
@DrTedros@GlobalGoalsUN@miaamormottley "In the past five years, WHO has responded to more than 120 emergencies – cyclones, volcanoes, earthquakes, outbreaks, wars – and a pandemic. Some last a few months; some last for years"-@DrTedros#WHA72
@DrTedros@GlobalGoalsUN@miaamormottley "Since 2017, we have shipped more than US$1.6 billion worth of medical supplies all over the world, working with partners to support critical health emergency supply chains"-@DrTedros#WHA75
@DrTedros@GlobalGoalsUN@miaamormottley@ACTAccelerator "For the first time, we established a Division of Emergency Preparedness, which supported countries to prepare for thousands of mass gatherings, from the Olympic and Winter Olympic Games, to COP26 and the Dubai Expo"-@DrTedros#WHA75
@DrTedros@GlobalGoalsUN@miaamormottley@ACTAccelerator "We have introduced the Universal Health and Preparedness Review, which has now been tested successfully in four Member States: Central African Republic, Iraq, Thailand and Portgual, with support from a further 21 Member States"-@DrTedros#WHA75
@DrTedros@GlobalGoalsUN@miaamormottley@ACTAccelerator "This will build on our existing work by harnessing cutting-edge technologies and innovations in data science, and by fostering greater sharing of data and information between countries with a “collaborative intelligence” approach"-@DrTedros#WHA75
#WHA75 adopts a landmark decision to improve WHO’s financing model where Member States target a gradual increase of their membership dues to represent 50% of WHO’s core budget by the 2030-2031 budget cycle, at the latest bit.ly/3yWTLVR
It is intended that the gradual increase to assessed contributions will start with WHO’s 2024-25 budget, with a proposed 20% increase over the assessed contributions in the approved 2022-23 base budget #WHA75
WHO's current financing model has been identified by many experts as posing a risk to the integrity & independence of its work. WHO’s over-reliance on voluntary contributions results in an ongoing misalignment between organizational priorities & the ability to finance them #WHA75
This week during a series of 5⃣ Strategic Roundtables at #WHA75 delegates, experts from WHO, partner agencies and civil society will discuss current priorities and next solutions on vital issues for global public health.
#WHA75 Strategic Roundtable 1⃣
This event will include the formal launch of ‘A Healthy Return: investing in a sustainably financed WHO’, the new WHO investment case.
#WHA75 Strategic Roundtable 2⃣
Spotlights the economics of #HealthForAll to position health as a core development objective, & guide investments to support a healthy society.
WHO Director-General’s Global Health Leaders’ Award, established in 2019, is given by @DrTedros to recognize contributions to advancing global health, demonstrated leadership & commitment to regional health issues.
Dr Paul Farmer was Chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at @harvardmed, co-founder & chief strategist of @PIH - an intl NGO established in 1987 providing direct health care services, research & advocacy for those who are sick and living in poverty #WHA75
"It’s good to see you. It’s been a while. For more than two years, technology has allowed us to continue meeting, and to continue our work together. But there is no substitute for meeting face-to-face"-@DrTedros#WHA75
"The #COVID19 pandemic has turned our world upside down. Our world has endured great suffering – and endures it still. I know how difficult the last two years have been for you and the people we serve together"-@DrTedros#WHA75
This is our Sunday morning - we are joining ‘#WalkTheTalk: the #HealthForAll Challenge’ at Place des Nations in Geneva🇨🇭
We walk, run, jump, dance, stretch for #Sport4Health because physical activities are important for our health.
How about you?
Sport should not only be for entertainment but also to inspire people to have healthier lifestyle, live longer & happier with their families
- Sheikh Dr. Mohammed bin Hamad Al Thani, Director of the Public Health Department, @MOPHQatar on #Sport4Health at #WalkTheTalk