WHO Director-General's remarks on the occasion of receipt of an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Groningen – 24 May 2024

Rector Magnificus Jacquelien Scherpen,

Professor Wiro Niessen

My fellow honorary doctors, Dr Kate Crawford, Dr Gerrit Hiemstra and Professor Mariana Mazzucato,

Distinguished guests, dear colleagues and friends,

Goedemiddag allemaal.

Good afternoon from Geneva, and I'm very sorry I can't be with you in person.

I am deeply honoured and humbled to accept this award, and I offer my deep gratitude to the Council of Deans and the Faculty of Medical Sciences.

I am especially pleased to receive this honour as the University of Groningen celebrates its 410^th anniversary.

The University has a rich heritage, including in science and medicine.

I note that among its notable alumni are Aletta Jacobs [Ya-cobs], the first woman to attend a Dutch university, and one of the first female doctors in the Netherlands;

And Dr Albert Szent-Györgyi, who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1937, for isolating vitamin C.

I am pleased to see that the university continues to build on this rich heritage, with healthy ageing as one of your three societal themes.

But in fact, the other two themes - energy and sustainable society - are also highly relevant to health.

Because we must remember that health is not created primarily in hospitals or clinics, but in homes, streets, markets, workplaces and our environment.

It's created in the air people breathe, the food they eat, and the conditions in which they live and work.

It was the Dutch philosopher Erasmus who said that prevention is better than cure.

500 years later, we are still learning how right he was.

That's why keeping people healthy and preventing disease is one of the three key priorities in WHO's global strategy for the next four years, which our Member States will consider at next week's World Health Assembly.

Of course, when people do need care, they must be able to access the health services they need, without facing financial hardship.

Which is why our second priority is providing health, by supporting countries to reorient their health systems towards primary health care, as the foundation of universal health coverage.

Globally, half the world's population lacks access to essential health services;

And 2 billion people face financial hardship due to out-of-pocket health spending.

These gaps expose people to so much avoidable suffering and death.

But they also expose individuals, families, communities, nations and the entire world to the impact of epidemics and pandemics.

That's why our third key priority is to make the world safer, by strengthening global health security.

As we speak, here at WHO headquarters our Member States are downstairs negotiating the text of the new Pandemic Agreement - a new instrument of international law to keep the world safer.

The Agreement aims to apply the painful lessons the COVID-19 pandemic taught us, so the world does not make the same mistakes next time.

And there will be a next time, because history teaches us that the next pandemic is a matter of when, not if.

These three priorities - promoting health by addressing the root causes of disease;

Providing health by improving access to health services without financial hardship;

And protecting health from epidemics and pandemics - are the three priorities for which I will continue to work, together with the incredible people I am proud to call my colleagues.

All of this requires countries to restructure their economies in a way that prioritizes health as the foundation of social and economic development and stability.

This was the focus of the WHO Council on the Economics of Health for All, which was led by my fellow honorary doctor Mariana Mazzucato, and I'm honoured to be recognized alongside Mariana today.

Congratulations to you, my sister, and to Dr Crawford and Dr Hiemstra.

My deepest thanks once again to the University of Groningen for this great honour.

Dank u wel. Thank you very much.

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