WHO Director-General's speech at the dialogue/Conference on Humanitarian Aid: 'Health and humanitarian aid in conflicts and crisis'– 10 June 2022

Your Excellency Kjell Magne Bondevik, former Prime Minister of Norway,

Your Excellency Dr Muhammad Bin Abulkarim Al-Issa, Secretary General of the Muslim World League,

Mr Aamir Javed Sheikh, President of Foundation Dialogue for Peace,

Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,

Good afternoon, it's a pleasure to be here.

My thanks to Aamir and the Foundation Dialogue for Peace for organizing this event, and for the invitation to speak.

A month ago, I had the opportunity to travel to Ukraine and Poland. I visited bombed-out hospitals, met health workers working under extraordinary circumstances, and spoke with refugees whose lives have been turned upside down.

At the WHO warehouse in eastern Poland, I held a crutch for children that was among the supplies we were preparing to ship into Ukraine.

This was a painful thing to see. A paediatric crutch should only be needed when children are injured being children - playing sport or falling off a bike - not because they are caught up in war.

My time in Ukraine was very troubling, both professionally and personally.

For me, it brought back painful memories from my childhood, growing up in the middle of a warzone.

The sounds of war, smells of war and sights of war came flooding back.
And again, my visit to Ukraine, to Kyiv, was painful due to again not only my childhood memories, but what's happening in Tigray, Ethiopia, where I come from, more than six million people have been under siege for 18 months, sealed off from the rest of the world by Ethiopian and Eritrean forces.

People are dying because of starvation and treatable diseases. That's why my trip to Kyiv, Ukraine was very painful, reminded me of the past and also what's happening now.

War is bad enough. But it is made worse because it creates the conditions for disease to spread.

In Afghanistan, in the Syrian Arab Republic, in Yemen, in Ukraine, in DRC and elsewhere, conflict shatters health systems and the people they serve.

It deprives communities of essential health services, and leaves psychological scars that can take years or decades to heal.

The disruption to health services caused by conflict is one thing; the deliberate targeting of health facilities and health workers is another.

So far this year, WHO has verified 450 attacks on health in 14 countries and territories, killing 157 people and injuring almost 200 others. Two-thirds of these attacks have been in Ukraine since the invasion.

These are hospitals, clinics, ambulances. These attacks are violations of international humanitarian law.

In conflict zones around the world, WHO is working to deliver medicines, equipment, training and technical advice to support care for those who need it;

And to support health workers who continue to deliver life-saving services in the most difficult circumstances.

In Ukraine, we are providing medical supplies and equipment, and supporting the Ministry of Health to maintain health services.

And we're supporting neighbouring countries to provide care for refugees.

In Afghanistan, we are continuing to work with partners to support the Sehatmandi project, which is the backbone of the country's health system.

In September last year I travelled to Afghanistan, where I met a group of women nurses who told me they had not been paid in three months, but would continue to serve their patients.

And WHO paid their salaries so they could continue to deliver the care on which their communities depend.

As we speak, my colleagues are responding to more than 50 emergencies around the world - cyclones, volcanoes, earthquakes, outbreaks, wars - and a pandemic.

In many cases, WHO is the first to arrive and the last to leave.

But in many of these situations, the one medicine that is most needed is the one that WHO cannot deliver - peace.

During El Salvador's Civil War, one-day ceasefires called "days of tranquillity" were declared three times a year, to allow the vaccination of children against polio, measles and more.

Days of Tranquillity have been used in Afghanistan, Côte d'Ivoire, Peru, Uganda and elsewhere.

Equitable health services strengthen community trust, which in turn contributes to strengthening health systems and peace building.

And health is one of the few areas in which nations can work together across ideological divides to find common solutions to common problems, and build bridges.

Around the world, WHO's health and peace initiative, is working to deliver health programmes in conflict-affected areas - programmes that also help to build peace.

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Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,

We live in troubled times, with a formidable convergence of disease, drought, famine and war, fuelled by climate change, inequity and geopolitical rivalry.

The only way out is for nations to come together, to collaborate where possible, to compromise where needed, and to seek peace.

We need peace for health, and health for peace.

I thank you.

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