WHO Director-General's keynote remarks at the Ducci Foundation Peace Award – 11 December 2024

Ambassador Paolo Ducci Ferraro di Castiglione,

Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia,

Lazio Region President Francesco Rocca,

Professor Luicio Caracciolo,

Distinguished guests,

Dear colleagues and friends,

Buonasera.

I am deeply honoured and humbled to receive the Ducci Peace Prize.

I am proud to accept this award on behalf of all of the dedicated women and men of the World Health Organization.

I would especially like to acknowledge my friend Francesco Rocca, whom I have known for almost 25 years.

When I was in charge of the health bureau in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, Francesco helped us to strengthen the regional health system, and we also worked together when he was President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Grazie mille, fratello mio.

I commend the Ducci Foundation for its mission to promote learning, tolerance, dialogue and understanding - some of the most valuable commodities on earth, and sadly, some of the most scarce.

This award, with its focus on intercultural dialogue and constructive engagement towards peace-building, is especially relevant in today's world, riven by so much conflict.

We live in perilous times;

Times of death, disease, destruction, displacement and division.

The wars in Gaza and Ukraine show no sign of stopping, and nor does the war in Sudan, even though it is largely forgotten by the rest of the world.

I visited Sudan in September, where I saw the effects of its civil war and met people who are paying the price.

The following week I was in neighbouring Chad, where I met some of the 900 000 Sudanese refugees who have fled, seeking security and food.

And they are just a fraction of the 122 million people globally who have been forced to flee their homes.

In 2022 I visited Ukraine shortly after the Russian Federation's invasion.

At WHO's warehouse in Lviv, I held a paediatric crutch that WHO was preparing to distribute-a tool that children should need only if they are injured playing sport or climbing trees, not because of bombs.

I also visited a reception centre for Ukrainian refugees in Poland, where I met a mother from the Mariupol area, who told her scared young daughter when heavy shelling began, "Don't worry, it's just a thunderstorm. It will pass." That's a mother's instinct, trying to help her child.

In 2018 I visited Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza. I toured a dialysis ward and a neonatal intensive care unit, and spoke with health workers and patients.

Even then, conditions in Gaza were extremely difficult. Now Gaza is virtually uninhabitable, with 90% of its population living in tents.

The world is headed in a very dangerous direction, but rather than turning around, we are sleepwalking into more and more danger.

Isolationism is in vogue, and multilateralism is fraying at the edges.

And yet now more than ever, countries must come together to find a common way forward.

Indeed, that was the background against which the World Health Organization was founded in 1948, as the world emerged from the devastation of the Second World War.

Like the United Nations of which we are part, WHO was born of the recognition that the 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 for all people, without distinction.

But the writers of the Constitution went further, in affirming that the health of all peoples is fundamental to the attainment of peace and security, and is dependent on the fullest co-operation of individuals and States.

They knew that there is no health without peace, and no peace without health.

It's no coincidence that in both the Napoleonic wars and the American Civil War, more soldiers died from disease than in battle.

It was no coincidence that the 1918 influenza pandemic - the greatest pandemic - erupted during what was then the greatest war the world had known - the First World War.

It's no coincidence that in 2018, the Ebola outbreak in the relatively stable Equateur province of DRC took two months to control, while the outbreak in the insecure regions of North Kivu and Ituri took two years.

It's no coincidence that the final frontier for eradicating polio is in the most insecure regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

And it's no coincidence that polio reemerged in Gaza this year, 25 years after the last case was seen there.

War and violence lead to direct injuries, but they also create an environment where healthcare systems collapse, diseases spread, and mental health deteriorates.

Communities torn apart by violence face obstacles in accessing basic healthcare services, leading to higher rates of mortality and suffering.

The scars of conflict can persist long after the fighting has ceased, creating a cycle of despair that is difficult to break.

In recent years we have also seen a disturbing new trend in conflicts around the world: the intentional targeting of health workers and health facilities in conflict.

So far this year, WHO has verified 1370 attacks on health care in 14 countries and territories, resulting in 805 deaths and 1545 injuries to health workers and patients.

In Gaza, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and elsewhere, WHO and our partners are working to support health systems, keep vital supply chains running, and provide essential health services to vulnerable populations.

But what the people of these countries need more than the aid we provide is peace. The best medicine is peace.

Just as disease often follows insecurity, so insecurity often follows disease.

While outbreaks of cholera, smallpox and plague in the 19^thCentury, and Ebola in our time, have led to riots, violent scapegoating and attacks against health and government officials.

But perhaps the most vivid demonstration is the COVID-19 pandemic, which demonstrated that when health is at risk, everything is at risk.

The impacts of the pandemic went far beyond the death and disease caused by the virus itself.

It caused great social, economic and political upheaval, eroding trust between people, governments and institutions, fuelled by a torrent of mis- and disinformation.

It is crucial that we learn the lessons of the pandemic to make the world safer for ourselves, and for those who come after us.

That is why the nations of the world decided three years ago to develop the WHO Pandemic Agreement, to bring countries together to prevent, prepare for and respond to pandemics.

This will be a new instrument of international law akin to other treaties on nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, tobacco, climate change, and so on.

Countries have come a long way in their negotiations, but there are still some key issues on which they have not yet reached agreement.

Nevertheless, they are committed to doing so in time for the World Health Assembly next May, and I am confident they will.

The WHO Pandemic Agreement is important not only to make the world safer;

But also to show that in these divided and divisive times, nations can still come together to find a common approach to common challenges.

Indeed, history teaches us that health is one area in which nations can join hands across ideological divides to solve shared threats.

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union and the USA came together at to eradicate smallpox.

Ultimately, pathogens have no regard for the lines humans draw on maps, nor for the colour of our politics, the size of our economies or the strength of our military.

For everything that makes us different, we are one humanity, the same species, sharing the same DNA and the same planet.

We have no future but a common future.

Ultimately, WHO belongs not to those of us who work for it, but to the nations and people of the world, who founded it 76 years ago with a vision for a healthier, safer, and fairer world.

I thank you all for your commitment and dedication to health, human rights, multilateralism, and peace.

Once again, I offer my deep gratitude to the Ducci Foundation, for the great honour you have given me today.

I accept it proudly, not only on my own behalf, but also on behalf of the incredible people I am privileged to call my colleagues - who work around the world every day, sometimes in very difficult and dangerous situations - to make the world a healthier, safer, fairer and more peaceful place for all.

From the devastating effects of armed conflict to the pervasive inequalities that plague our societies, the road to peace is fraught with obstacles.

But history has shown us that even in the darkest times, the human spirit can rise to the occasion.

Every movement for peace, every act of kindness, every moment of solidarity builds a foundation upon which we can construct a more harmonious world.

We must also recognize that peace begins within each of us. It starts with our thoughts, our words, and our actions.

It starts with the small acts of kindness we extend to our neighbours, the empathy we show to those who are different from us, and the courage we demonstrate when we stand up against injustice.

Every effort counts; every voice matters.

The best medicine is peace.

Grazie mille.I thank you.

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