Various international leaders and health officials have arrived in Switzerland ahead of the World Health Assembly’s (WHA) Seventy-fifth session, which began today in Geneva.
The theme of this year’s Health Assembly is: Health for peace, peace for health.
The sessions for this assembly will be held till the May 28.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO General Director, began his statement by praising international leaders for their efforts in the face of several difficulties. The difficulties he cited were:
To safeguard the health and rights of their people;
In the face of uncertainty, provide soothing guidance;
To combat misinformation and deception;
In order to obtain vaccinations and other instruments;
And to deal with a lot more.
“Reported cases have declined significantly from the peak of the Omicron wave in January of this year.
And reported deaths are at their lowest since March 2020.
In many countries, all restrictions have been lifted, and life looks much like it did before the pandemic.
So is it over?
No, it’s most certainly not over.” stated Tedros.
Tedros continued by saying “This virus has surprised us at every turn – a storm that has torn through communities again and again, and we still can’t predict its path, or its intensity.
We lower our guard at our peril.”
He said that only 57 countries have vaccinated 70% of their population – almost all of them high-income countries and that they must continue to support all countries to reach 70% vaccination coverage as soon as possible, including 100% of those aged over 60; 100% of health workers; and 100% of those with underlying conditions.
WHO’s primary focus now is to support countries to turn vaccines into vaccinations as fast as possible.
“However, we still see supply-side problems for tests and therapeutics, with insufficient funds, and insufficient access.
The pandemic will not magically disappear. ” continued the WHO general director.
“As we speak, our colleagues around the world are responding to outbreaks of Ebola in DRC, monkeypox and hepatitis of unknown cause, and complex humanitarian crises in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan, the Syrian Arab Republic, Ukraine and Yemen.
We face a formidable convergence of disease, drought, famine and war, fuelled by climate change, inequity and geopolitical rivalry.
As you know, this Health Assembly marks the end of my first term as Director-General. I am humbled by the Executive Board’s decision to nominate me for a second term.” stated Tedros.
He also discussed the conflict in Ukraine. About wars he stated ” It leaves psychological scars that can take years or decades to heal.
For me, this is not hypothetical or abstract; it’s real, and it’s personal.
I am a child of war. “
The agenda for this week agenda this week discussions will be –
designing the health workforce of the future, to finishing the eradication of polio, to building a new architecture for global health security; and renewing the drive towards universal health coverage.
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