WHO Director-General's opening remarks at the media briefing – 19 September 2024

Good morning, good afternoon and good evening,

Last week I was in Sudan, seeing first-hand the devastation that has caused untold destruction, death, disease and the displacement of more than 13 million people.

That includes more than 640,000 people who have sought safety across the border in Chad.

Yesterday I returned from Chad, where I had the opportunity to meet some of those people in Adré, on the Chad-Sudan border.

I met mothers who had walked with their children for days, after their homes were burned, their crops destroyed, and their animals stolen.

They left Sudan, and arrived in Chad, with nothing.

When I asked them what they needed, their answer was simple: "We're hungry."

I also had the opportunity to join a convoy of trucks crossing the border from Chad to Sudan to deliver aid to the Darfur region of Sudan, where many of the refugees are coming from.

In the capital N'Djamena, I met with the President of Chad, His Excellency Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, to express my thanks for Chad's generosity in welcoming refugees from Sudan, even though it is putting a huge strain on the host communities and the health system.

The international community has not given this crisis the attention it deserves.

WHO is working closely with our partners to do everything we can to meet the huge challenges these communities are facing.

But what they need even more than the aid we provide is a ceasefire, a political solution, and peace.

While in Chad, I also had the opportunity to participate in a high-level conference on the eradication of Guinea worm disease.

In the mid-1980s, there were an estimated 3.5 million cases of Guinea worm globally. Last year, there were just 14 reported cases, and so far this year there have been just four: two in Chad and two in South Sudan.

We now have the opportunity to make Guinea worm only the second human disease to be eradicated.

This incredible achievement is thanks to the dedication of the affected communities, supported by a strong network of partners, especially the Carter Center, and the personal commitment of President Jimmy Carter over many years.

President Carter will celebrate his 100^th birthday in less than two weeks, on the 1^st of October. I would like to wish him a very happy birthday, and to offer him my deep thanks for his commitment to making Guinea worm history. Thank you, Mr President.

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Now to the outbreaks of mpox in Africa.

I say outbreaks, plural, because it's important to remember that we are not dealing with one outbreak but with several, caused by different strains or clades of the virus in different places.

The most concerning is the outbreak of clade 1b in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burundi, where cases are continuing to increase.

The virus is being spread primarily through close personal contact, including sex, and within families through caring for young children, breastfeeding, and sharing clothing or bedding.

The response to the outbreak is made more difficult by the context, with insecurity in the affected areas, and concurrent outbreaks of other diseases including measles and chickenpox.

WHO is on the ground, working to stop these outbreaks.

Across nine countries, WHO has trained more than 1600 health workers on treating of mpox.

Tomorrow, more than 33 tonnes of supplies will be delivered to DRC, including essential commodities for testing, treating and preventing infections.

And in Burundi, WHO has addressed a critical fuel shortage to ensure that WHO, our partners and the government can conduct their daily mpox response activities at pace and scale.

Vaccines are now being deployed, but vaccines alone will not end these outbreaks, and are only one part of the comprehensive preparedness and response plan that WHO and our partners are implementing.

We're also strengthening surveillance and field investigation, laboratory capacity, home and clinical care, infection prevention and control, and risk communication and community engagement.

Implementing this plan depends on strong partnership, between governments, WHO, the Africa CDC and many others - too many to list.

One example of this partnership is the launch of the Access and Allocation Mechanism for mpox, which will increase access to vaccines and other tools for people at highest risk, and ensure that limited supplies are used effectively and equitably.

This mechanism was set up as part of the interim Medical Countermeasures Network, established by WHO last year and endorsed by Member States.

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Now to Lebanon, where WHO is working closely with the Ministry of Public Health to respond to the mass casualty event caused by exploding communications devices.

These events have severely disrupted Lebanon's already-fragile health system.

For months, WHO and our partners have been supporting Lebanon to prepare for and respond to mass casualty events.

We have trained over 5000 health workers to respond to events like these, covering more than two-thirds of the country's hospitals.

And we supported the government to establish a health emergency operations centre, which is proving vital in coordinating the response.

WHO has distributed trauma and emergency surgery supplies, to supplement supplies that we had pre-positioned in 23 hospitals.

Together with our partners, we're working to meet immediate needs, including blood supplies and blood testing kits, and monitoring how the health system is functioning.

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The conflict in Sudan, the refugee crisis in Chad, mpox outbreaks in Africa and insecurity in Lebanon are just a few of the many overlapping and intersecting crises in our world.

The only way to solve these complex challenges is through close cooperation between countries.

At the UN General Assembly in New York next week, I will participate in the Summit of the Future, the gathering of world leaders convened by the UN Secretary-General to forge a new international consensus on how to deliver a better present, and a safer future.

The health highlight of this year's General Assembly is the High-Level Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance, to be held next Thursday.

Antimicrobial resistance, or AMR, threatens to unwind a century of medical progress, and could return us to the pre-antibiotic era, where infections that are treatable today could become a death sentence tomorrow.

AMR is caused largely by the misuse and overuse of medicines, making microbes resistant to them, and diseases more dangerous and deadly.

This is a threat for all countries at all income levels, which is why a strong, accelerated and well-coordinated global response is needed urgently.

This meeting provides a historic opportunity for world leaders to agree on specific actions and investments to address this global threat.

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Antimicrobial resistance is a particular concern in health facilities, where antibiotic-resistant infections pose a severe threat to the safety of patients.

This past Tuesday, the 17^th of September, was World Patient Safety Day.

This year's focus was on improving diagnosis, with the slogan "Get it right, make it safe".

The right diagnosis, at the right time, is the basis of safe and effective health care.

Diagnostic errors can lead to serious harm, and even death.

This can include missed, incorrect, delayed, or miscommunicated diagnoses.

As a result of these errors, millions of people experience avoidable suffering every year, putting a huge burden on health systems and increasing healthcare costs.

Reducing this risk takes collaboration between health workers and managers, policymakers and regulators, civil society and the private sector, and importantly, patients and their families.

Together, we can get it right, and make it safe.

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Finally, yesterday WHO and our partner FIFA launched a new campaign to raise awareness about concussion in football.

Football, like other sports, is a great form of physical activity, with many benefits for health.

But, like other contact sports including rugby, American football and boxing, there are also risks, including the risk of concussion and brain injury.

The "Suspect and Protect" campaign aims to reduce this risk, by helping players, coaches and medical staff at all levels of football to be aware of the signs of concussion, to suspect concussion for anyone who sustains an impact to their head, face, neck or body, and to protect anyone with one or more symptoms of concussion by ensuring they leave the pitch immediately.

Because no match is worth the risk.

Margaret, back to you.

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