Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, Thank you for being with us today at this historic moment.
We are at a turning point.
As you know, WHO has come in for criticism in recent years. Some of it fair, some of it not.
Some people have questioned whether WHO is still relevant; they have asked whether we still have a role to play.
We should not be afraid of hard questions. They force us to examine ourselves and do better.
But you are here because you are convinced, as I am, that WHO can and must play a vital role in our world.
We are here to discuss the future of WHO. But I have not been waiting until now to get started.
In the past 143 days we have already made a lot of progress. We have worked day and night, with a real sense of urgency.
Let me give you 10 highlights.
First, the General Programme of Work was completed by mid-August, and has been discussed with all Member States, at each of the Regional Committee meetings.
Second, the transformation plan and architecture has been completed and agreed with the Regional Directors, and ready for consultation with you some other time.
Third, a new resource mobilization strategy has been drafted, which we will be sharing with you at a later stage. Not during this session, but we’ll organize another session for Member States.
Number four, building on the work of Dr Margaret Chan, we have continued to strengthen our response to emergencies at all three levels of the organization.
In one month, we were able to bring plague in Madagascar under control. Although because the transmission season continues until April, we must beef up surveillance.
Together with our partners in Bangladesh, we conducted the second-biggest oral cholera vaccination programme in history.
In Uganda, we helped stamp out an outbreak of Marburg virus disease.
Not a day goes by without me communicating with my able Executive Director Pete Salama about health emergencies. That’s the kind of mindset we have.
I now receive a daily report on the status of all health emergencies.
And we have instituted the WHO Health Security Council, a fortnightly meeting dedicated solely to emergencies.
Number five, we have taken action to ramp up the response to non-communicable diseases.
The Global Conference on NCDs in Montevideo has generated unprecedented political momentum as we head towards next year’s UN High-Level Meeting on NCDs.
And we have established a new High-Level Commission on NCDs, to be chaired by President Tabaré Vazquez of Uruguay and Dr Sania Nishtar of Pakistan.
Number six, at the COP23 meeting in Bonn earlier this month, we launched our new initiative on climate change in small island developing states, and we have signed a memorandum of understanding with UNFCCC to strengthen our collaboration.
Number seven, in October I appointed the most diverse senior leadership team in WHO’s history. For the first time, women outnumber men in our top ranks. Every region is represented, ensuring that nobody is left behind in our decision-making processes.
Number eight, we have stepped up our political engagement. At the G20 Summit in Hamburg, the G7 health ministers meeting in Milan, the UN General Assembly in New York and in bilateral meetings everywhere, I have met with heads of state and other senior ministers to make the case for universal health coverage, global health security and the other priorities we have.
Number nine, we have intensified our work with partners, including the World Bank, Unicef, UNDP, GAVI, the Global Fund, ITU and many others. And with many of them, entering into new strategic partnerships.
We recognize that we cannot do everything ourselves, and that is only by cooperating with partners, instead of trying to compete with them, that we can best serve the world’s people.
And number ten, just a few weeks ago, we met with all our country representatives to identify challenges and solutions.
We came up with a list of quick wins as well as longer-term changes that are needed to strengthen country capacity and deliver results where it matters.
We have accomplished a lot. But we are only just getting started.
Our discussions today and tomorrow will pave the way to many more successes to come.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Let me take a few moments to remind you why we are here, and what is at stake.
We are here because we live on a planet that is facing increasingly complex health challenges.
Currently, WHO is responding to 44 health emergencies around the world, 9 of which are grade 3 emergencies involving all 3 levels of the organization.
None are simple health problems with simple solutions. All are complex issues, involving conflict, politics, civil strife and other factors.
The burden of non-communicable diseases continues to grow, as multinational companies market products that are harmful to health with little or no regulation.
Antimicrobial resistance threatens to return us to the dark ages of medicine.
Climate change takes an ever-increasing toll on health, especially for people in small island developing states.
And in just a couple of weeks’ time we will publish new data that reveals the true extent to which people around the world lack access to essential health services, and are exposed to catastrophic health spending.
Here are some numbers.
In the time it takes me to talk to you today,
670 people will die from cardiovascular disease
335 people will die from cancer
200 children under 5 will die from a range of preventable causes
45 people will die from tuberculosis
65 people will be infected with HIV
48 people will be killed because of road traffic injuries
And 11 women will die due to complications of pregnancy and childbirth.
This is the world in which we live.
Each death is a source of sorrow. Each is a wasted opportunity.
These numbers are all the more heartbreaking because most of these deaths are preventable.
We have the tools and technologies. We have the scientific knowledge.
So we must ask ourselves why.
Why does this happen?
For the answer, we must look in the mirror.
To be sure, we have made progress, and there are many reasons to celebrate.
People today live longer than at any time in human history.
Life expectancy in Africa, for instance, has increased by 10 years since 2000.
We have made huge gains in the fight against HIV, malaria and TB.
Maternal and child mortality have dropped by half since 1990.
But there are still massive disparities, and new challenges.
To address these challenges, we cannot do business as usual. We need a paradigm shift, a radical change in approach.
In addition to changing disease patterns and geopolitical shifts, the global health architecture has changed dramatically.
So must we.
That’s what the GPW is all about.
Its aim is to give birth to a WHO that has the clarity of mission to truly fulfil its mandate.
It’s ambitious, and it must be; we cannot afford to aim low.
This GPW is not just about transforming WHO. It’s about transforming global health, and ultimately transforming human lives – it’s about people.
It starts by clarifying our mission:
To promote health, keep the world safe, and serve the vulnerable.
This is what I have heard you, our Member States, asking us to do.
It also outlines the several strategic shifts that we must make as an organization if we are to achieve our mission.
First, we must become far more focused on impact and outcomes, instead of processes and outputs.
The measure of our success must not be in terms of resolutions, meetings, reports and guidelines. All are important, but only if they result in meaningful improvements to health.
Lives saved.
Infections prevented.
Premature deaths averted.
This requires obvious investments in metrics and measurement.
To make progress, we must be able to measure progress.
As you know, we have proposed the “3 billion” targets: 1 billion more people with health coverage; 1 billion people made safer; 1 billion lives improved.
Of course, these targets must not be arbitrary.
That’s why we are appointing a reference group of experts to ensure and scrutinize that they are methodologically sound.
The second major shift is that we must be much more vocal and visible as a global health leader, by advocating for health at the highest political levels.
When we call for universal health coverage, it is not simply a matter of making the right technical adjustments.
It is a political statement that we must make on the global stage.
Health ministers are at the core, but I know from my own experience in politics that if we want to make change, we must go beyond the health ministry and talk to finance ministers, foreign ministers, heads of state and heads of government.
Third, WHO must become more operational and relevant in all 194 countries.
Of course, we are here to support the poorest and most vulnerable, who need us the most.
But we are the World Health Organization. We are here for all countries, no matter how rich or poor.
No health system is perfect. Our experience, expertise and technical know-how are assets from which all countries can benefit.
And in many cases, policy dialogue and technical assistance are all that countries need us for.
But when people are crying out for health services, we cannot turn our backs and expect others to do it.
We must be ready to provide those services where nobody else will or can.
Some people worry that in becoming more operational, we are putting less emphasis on our normative work. Not at all.
We will in fact strengthen our normative functions by making them focused on impact.
Finally, we must reorient WHO to put countries at the centre of everything we do.
Our headquarters and regional offices will continue to play an important role.
But to achieve the impact we want, we have no choice but to strengthen and empower our country offices.
Of course, there will be financial implications from implementing the new GPW, but we are not starting with the financial question.
We’re starting with uninhibited vision and ambition, asking what the world needs, and how we can deliver it.
Once we agree on that, we will be in a better position to know what our financial needs will be, and raise it together.
This GPW is the result of extensive consultation. With staff. With partners. And with you, our Member States. At each Regional Committee meeting we presented the GPW and incorporated your feedback.
But I want to emphasise that we are here still to listen. We are not asking you to rubber stamp what we have done. That decision will be for January.
The GPW is a draft. And it’s your draft, because it’s your WHO.
It is more than a to-do list. It is an opportunity to re-imagine the health of 7 billion people.
The details are vitally important.
But I urge you not to get so lost in the details that you lose sight of the big picture.
We will need detailed implementation plans.
We will need detailed costing plans.
But we must start by making sure we have a shared vision and strategy.
In everything we do, we must act with speed, with scale, and with quality.
We are faced with urgent needs, so we must act as fast as we can.
We are faced with huge challenges, so we must be as ambitious as we can.
And we are serving the people of the world, so we must give them our very best efforts.
The stakes are too high.
We cannot afford to wait.
The world is watching.
I thank you.