New York — Your Excellency Dr Khalilur Rahman, President of the General Assembly, Your Excellency Amar Bendjama, President of ECOSOC, My sister, Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohamed, The Right Honourable Helen Clark, Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,
Soon after my election as Director-General in 2017, I was invited to speak at an event at Columbia University here in New York during the General Assembly.
The title was: is the world ready for the next pandemic? My answer was no.
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Just over two years later, COVID-19 arrived and indeed, the world was not prepared.
It became the most severe global health crisis in a century, causing more than 20 million excess deaths, and wiping over US$ 10 trillion from the global economy.
The pandemic exposed and exacerbated faultlines in global health security.
During the pandemic and since, WHO established 10 initiatives to make the world safer from future epidemics and pandemics, in five key areas. Most of these were recommendations of the panel led by President Ellen Sirleaf and former Prime Minister Helen Clark.
To strengthen national capacities, the Pandemic Fund with the World Bank and the Universal Health and Preparedness Review;
To strengthen surveillance and early warning, the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence in Berlin;
To improve equitable access to vaccines and other tools, the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator and COVAX.; the interim Medical Countermeasures Network; the mRNA Technology Transfer Programme in South Africa, and the Biomanufacturing Workforce Training Initiative in the Republic of Korea;
To encourage international sharing of pathogen samples, the WHO BioHub in Switzerland.
And to strengthen international response capacity, the Global Health Emergency Corps.
In addition to strengthening all these components of global health security, Member States also strengthened the international legal framework that governs pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.
Two years ago, Member States adopted a package of amendments to the International Health Regulations, which entered into force last September.
And at the World Health Assembly last year, you adopted the WHO Pandemic Agreement. This is very historic.
In a divided and divisive world, countries found common ground for a common purpose. You showed that multilateralism still works, and it’s alive and well.
The final piece of the puzzle is the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing system, which countries are continuing to negotiate.
Although differences remain, I am confident that countries will find common ground, just as they did with the Agreement itself.
It’s essential they do, so the Agreement can begin the process of ratification and enter into force as international law.
But let me be clear about one thing: the Pandemic Agreement and the IHR do not – I repeat, do not – infringe on national sovereignty in any way.
On the contrary, they have been negotiated and adopted by sovereign states, as an act of their sovereignty.
Because they recognize that pandemics do not respect borders – I think all of us repeated the same thing – and the best defence against them is not isolation, but cooperation.
Pandemic prevention, preparedness and response is not merely a noble aspiration. Is it a global public good.
In my speech at Columbia University nine years ago, I used a phrase for the first time that I came to use many more times during the pandemic.
I said that no one is safe until everyone is safe.
That is the spirit of the declaration that is before you today.
I commend Member States for the seriousness and stamina you brought to negotiating it.
In particular, I thank the co-facilitators, His Excellency Ambassador Ngoga of Rwanda and His Excellency Ambassador Hovhannisyan of Armenia.
I also recognize Her Excellency Annalena Baerbock of Germany for her efforts to advance this work during her time as President of the General Assembly.
I know the negotiations were not easy, and that differences remain.
But you have agreed on important commitments to concrete, measurable and urgent action to address gaps:
A commitment to build and strengthen local and national capacities;
A commitment to invest in resilient health systems;
A commitment to foster trust in public health systems and institutions;
A commitment to community engagement;
And a commitment to solidarity and equity in access to products, tools and resources.
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We welcome the political declaration, and we look forward to its adoption.
Excellencies,
The current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as DSG Amina has said, is a reminder of the ever-present threat of epidemics and pandemics, not only for local communities, but the whole world.
Ebola is unlikely to become a pandemic, but the next pandemic is a matter of when, not if.
So today, I leave you with just one request – just one: get PABS done, as soon as possible. Please conclude the negotiation as soon as possible.
Further delays are not just delays in procedure or process. They are delays that cost all countries dearly when the next pandemic arrives.
We can never say the world is ready enough. The threat evolves, and so must we.
But is the world more ready than it was before COVID-19? Yes and no.
But if you fulfil the commitments you are making today, you will make it a yes.
I thank you.