WHO Director-General's panel remarks at the 15th Meeting of the Group of Friends of Global Health - 26 November 2021

Your Excellency Ambassador Katharina Stasch;

My brother Elhadj As Sy;

Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,

Good afternoon, and thank you for this opportunity.

As you know, there have been many reviews of the COVID-19 pandemic, with multiple reports and recommendations.

Indeed, the pattern of outbreaks, epidemics and pandemics over the past 20 years is that reviews are held, reports are written, recommendations are made, and very little changes.

So it takes courage to publish a report with no new recommendations, because the previous recommendations have still not been fulfilled.

The first GPMB report, released in September 2019, months before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, identified many of the weaknesses that this crisis has exposed over the last two years:

Weaknesses in political leadership and commitment; health system readiness; trust with communities; and international cooperation.

The second GPMB report, released in the midst of the pandemic in 2020, incorporated hard-won insights, with calls for predictable and sustained financing; equitable access for vaccines and other life-saving tools; and global governance for preparedness.

This third report comes at a critical juncture.

In too many countries and communities, there appears to be a false sense of security that vaccines have ended the pandemic and replaced the need for any other precautions.

If we do not continue to suppress transmission and equitably distribute vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics, the pandemic will be drawn out even further, bringing needless suffering and death.

The emergence of a new, highly-mutated variant highlights that the pandemic is far from over.

We have seen how quickly the world's attention turns to other issues. But just because we've forgotten about a problem doesn't mean it has gone away.

The GPMB asks if we have learned the lessons of this pandemic; if the world is even less prepared now than it was before COVID-19?

We must take a hard look at our weakened public health systems, the fragmentation of our global health architecture, and the crisis of trust in our scientific institutions.

This is important not only for this pandemic, but for the threats of the future.

As the new GPMB report makes clear, it is crucial not only that we act, but that we act in a coherent, coordinated, and timely manner.

There is no room for narrow self-interest and short-term political considerations when it comes to emergency preparedness.

I'd like to highlight some of the key recommendations in the report, where we are already seeing action:

First, an international agreement on preparedness and response, which as you know will be considered by a Special Session of the World Health Assembly next week;

Second, a strengthened WHO with sustainable funding through an increase in assessed contributions. After many years, that process is moving forward thanks to the Intergovernmental Working Group on Sustainable Financing, chaired by Germany;

Third, better information sharing, as epitomized by the new WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence in Berlin;

And fourth, mutual accountability, which we are working with our Member States to enhance, through a pilot programme of the Universal Health and Preparedness Review - a new mechanism for peer review, modelled on the Universal Periodic Review used by the Human Rights Council.

Finally, as part of our efforts to address the fragmented global health architecture, WHO and 12 other multilateral agencies have joined forces under the umbrella of the Global Action Plan for Healthy Lives and Well-being for All.

The SDG3 GAP, as it is known, has recently approved a new strategy to support country-led efforts towards an equitable and resilient recovery towards the health-related Sustainable Development Goals.

The SDG GAP can also support community engagement across the agencies through its civil society accelerator. My thanks to Germany, Norway and Ghana for initiating the GAP, and to many other countries here for your support.

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My friends, future generations will judge us not by the crises we faced, but on how we reacted to them, and the actions we took to prevent and prepare for the challenges of the future.

We cannot - we must not - allow the lessons of this pandemic to be wasted.

It is within our power to do things differently, by coming together to take the smart, coherent, and long-term actions to keep us all safer.

I thank you.

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