WHO - World Health Organization

09/22/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 09/23/2024 11:28

WHO Director-General's remarks at the Summit of the Future – 22 September 2024

Mr President, Excellencies,

I have three minutes, and three requests.

First, a commitment to promote, provide and protect health.

Health is not created in clinics and hospitals. It's created in streets, homes, communities, schools, markets, workplaces and parliaments.

It's created in the air people breathe, the food they eat, the water they drink, the conditions in which they live and work, and in our changing climate.

When people do need care, they must be able to access the health services they need, when and where they need them, without facing financial hardship by paying for care out of their own pockets.

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Second, a commitment to a Pandemic Agreement.

The COVID-19 pandemic showed that when health is at risk, everything is at risk.

The outbreaks of mpox in Africa demonstrate once again why the world needs the WHO Pandemic Agreement - a shared approach to shared threats.

There are those who say the Pandemic Agreement will cede sovereignty to WHO, giving it the power to impose lockdowns or vaccine mandates.

This is not true. It's fake information.

The Agreement is being negotiated by countries, for countriesand will be implemented in countriesin accordance with their own national laws. Period.

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And third, a commitment to peace.

This time last week I was in Adré, on the Chad-Sudan border, which more than 640,000 Sudanese have crossed in search of safety and food.

The conditions are indescribable, the needs overwhelming, and the international community is not giving this crisis the attention it deserves.

WHO is working with our partners to deliver aid to Sudan and meet the health needs of both refugees and the host communities.

But what the people of Sudan need more than aid - like the people of Gaza and Ukraine - is a ceasefire, a political solution, and peace.

Because there is no health without peace, and there is no peace without health.

A commitment to promote, provide and protect health;

A commitment to the Pandemic Agreement;

And a commitment to peace.

Thank you so much.