WHO Director-General's keynote remarks at Real Academia de Medicina y Cirugía de Murcia – 24 April 2024

Your Excellency Professor Dr Manuel Segovia Hernández, President of the Royal Academy,

Your Excellency José Ballesta Germán, Mayor of Murcia,

The Most Illustrious Dr Manuel Sánchez Solís de Querol, Secretary-General of the Royal Academy of Medicine and Surgery of Murcia.

Distinguished guests, dear colleagues and friends,

Buenas noches.

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

I am deeply honoured and humbled to accept this award, which I receive with the deepest gratitude.

I also congratulate Your Excellency Mayor José Ballesta Germán on your appointment as an Honorary Academician of the Royal Academy.

The Royal Academy is an enduring legacy of one of the oldest traditions of medical schools, dating back to its founding in the year 1243 by the King of Spain, Alfonso X the Wise.

WHO is also proud to have a close connection with the Region of Murcia, with whom we have collaborated for the past 15 years on the control of neglected tropical diseases.

Specifically, we have focused on the most prevalent NTDs in Europe, such as Chagas disease or strongyloidiasis, which particularly affect travel, migrants, adopted children.

The Region of Murcia has published pioneering scientific evidence on control of these diseases, and made impressive achievements, including being the first region in the world to eliminate congenital Chagas disease.

Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,

Just a couple of weeks ago marked the 76^th anniversary of the founding of the World Health Organization.

WHO was born in the aftermath of the Second World War, and the realization that the only alternative to global conflict was global cooperation.

Our Constitution was the first instrument of international law to affirm that the highest attainable standard of health is a fundamental right of all people, without distinction.

Today, at least 140 countries recognize the right to health in their own constitutions.

And yet, around the world, that right is often unrealised, or under threat.

At least 4.5 billion people - more than half of the world's population - are not fully covered by essential health services, and two billion people face financial hardship due to out-of-pocket health spending.

Outbreaks, disasters, conflicts and climate change are all causing death and disability, hunger and psychological distress.

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed gaps in health systems in every country, and even many high-income countries were taken by surprise.

The impacts of the pandemic went far beyond the death and disease caused by the virus itself, disrupting societies, economies, and health systems, as you know.

It eroded trust between people, governments and institutions, fuelled by a torrent of mis- and disinformation.

And you are well aware of the ways in which the pandemic exacerbated geopolitical tensions globally.

The key issue now is whether we will learn the painful lessons the pandemic has taught us.

Because history teaches us that the next pandemic is not a matter of if, but when.

If a new pandemic began tomorrow, we would face many of the same problems we faced with COVID-19.

To be sure, in response to the lessons COVID-19 taught us, WHO, our Member States and our partners have established several initiatives to make the world safer from future pandemics.

For example, working with the World Bank, we have established the Pandemic Fund to support countries to strengthen their pandemic preparedness and response capacities;

To increase regional production of vaccines, we have established the mRNA Technology Transfer Hub in South Africa and a Global Training Hub for Biomanufacturing in the Republic of Korea.

To improve the world's ability to detect signals of outbreaks faster, we have set up a new WHO centre for collaborative intelligence in Berlin;

To strengthen international sharing of biological samples and sequences, we established the WHO BioHub in Switzerland;

And we're also working on a new mechanism for more equitable access to medical countermeasures including vaccines, diagnostics and treatments.

But there remains one key missing ingredient: a binding framework to ensure better international cooperation to prevent, prepare for and respond to future pandemics, which was so badly lacking during the COVID-19 pandemic.

That's why WHO Member States are now negotiating a legally binding agreement on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.

In short, the Pandemic Agreement aims to enhance global cooperation to ensure a more consistent and coordinated global response to global threats.

It aims to enhance sharing of information about pathogens with pandemic potential, to ensure a more rapid and effective global response.

And it aims to enhance sharing of medical countermeasures including vaccines and therapeutics, to ensure a more equitable global response.

At the heart of that agreement is the same principle that was there when WHO was founded 76 years ago: equity.

Because in the end, health is not a luxury for those who can afford it, it is a fundamental right for all people.

That is the right for which I will keep striving.

Thank you once again for this great honour.

Muchas gracias.

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