The head of the UN warns states. Progress in health is in jeopardy. He said so on the margins of the annual opening of the World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of the WHO.
Global life expectancy has increased by 50% since the World Health Organization (WHO) was established 75 years ago, said Sunday, May 21, 2023, but in the wake of COVID, climate change and other challenges, “progress is at risk.” Secretary-General António Guterres spoke at the annual opening of the World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of the WHO, and said that the agency was born of a spirit of cooperation, leading to dramatic improvements in human health. Global life expectancy has increased by more than 50%, infant mortality has decreased by 60% in 30 years, smallpox has been eradicated and polio is on the verge of disappearing,” Guterres said. But progress is threatened. War and conflict threaten millions of people. The health of billions of people is threatened by the climate crisis,” he warned.
The Secretary-General said that COVID-19 has blocked or even reversed ongoing improvements in public health and is leading to a setback to the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). But it’s not inevitable,” he said. “ We can find the path to progress again. We can achieve our health and wellness ambitions for all. But only if the world works together. If we cooperate, despite the tensions that weigh on relations between nations.” Guterres added that the long-term promotion of public health requires strengthening the independence, authority and funding of the WHO, “which is at the heart of our international effort.” and must play a key coordinating role in the fight against the next pandemic. As international negotiations continue for a new pandemic action plan, “It is vital to prepare for future health threats – from new pandemics to climate hazards – in order to prevent where we can and respond quickly and effectively where we cannot,” said the UN chief.
Reinforcing this message in his introductory address to the Assembly, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the world’s exit from the dark COVID-19 tunnel was “not just the end of a bad dream we woke up from. We can’t just continue the way we have been,” he said. The painful lessons of the pandemic must be understood. The main lesson is that we can only face common threats with a common response. Like the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the pandemic agreement being negotiated “must be a historic agreement to effect a paradigm shift in global health security, recognizing that our destinies are linked.”, he added. “The time has come for us to write a new chapter in the history of global health together, to chart a new course, to make the world a safer place for our children and grandchildren,” said Dr. Tedros.
