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Thursday, 1 May 2025
Post- presser links: WHO Press Briefing-
1 May 2025
Note: WHO’s Director-General spoke to journalists today at a special briefing for reporters accredited to the UN in Geneva- the Association of Accredited Correspondents at the United Nations ( ACANU) – Below is the text of Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus remarks and links to video and audio files.
WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the media briefing –
1 May 2025
[https://www.who.int/news-room/speeches/item/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-media-briefing—1-may-2025]
Good afternoon and welcome to WHO.
I’m glad to welcome you in person and look forward to having these special ACANU press briefings more regularly.
Let’s start with some positive news.
Since we last met, the Pandemic Agreement has moved forward. Many of you were with us for the late nights and early mornings.
Over 12 000 words were agreed by Member States, in the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body, and I congratulate them all on committing to make the world safer from pandemics.
The next step will be for all WHO Member States to consider the draft text, at its Seventy-eighth session, later this month.
The principles of state sovereignty, human rights, international humanitarian law, equity, solidarity and of basing public health decisions on science and evidence, are integral to the Agreement.
The Pandemic Agreement shows that multilateralism is alive and well.
The Agreement, which was carefully negotiated by Member States for more than three years, is a foundation to prevent, prepare for and respond to pandemics.
Let me be crystal clear, this agreement does not impinge on State sovereignty, and we hope journalists will call out in the coming weeks those who throw false narratives into the public domain.
Importantly, this is not just about reacting to disease outbreaks or confirmed pandemics, this is about international cooperation for prevention, preparedness and response so that when outbreaks happen, they can be stopped.
Much like the Ebola outbreak in Uganda, which started in January, was officially declared over last weekend.
I congratulate the Government of Uganda and especially the health workers that helped curtail this deadly disease.
The successful Ebola outbreak response, much like Rwanda’s successful effort to stop Marburg, reflects an important state of readiness, which is exactly what the Pandemic Accord aims to strengthen everywhere.
Another example of this is the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network, or GOARN, which has trained local responders and responded to a range of outbreaks for 25 years.
To discuss the Pandemic Agreement and the importance of pandemic readiness, I am joined by the co-chairs of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body, Ms Precious Matsoso and Ambassador Anne-Claire Amprou of France, to give brief remarks on where we are now, and what will happen next on the Pandemic Agreement at the World Health Assembly.
Now my sister, Precious, who negotiated this effort for more than three years, over to you.
Ms Precious Matsoso speaks.
Thank you, Precious. I agree that this is a historic and momentous effort and now hand over to Ambassador Amprou.
Ambassador Anne-Claire Amprou speaks.
Thank you, Ambassador, and again Precious. I look forward to Member States discussing and approving the pandemic agreement at the World Health Assembly.
However, we are living through the greatest disruption to global health financing in memory.
For years, we have said global health financing needs to be changed and emphasized the importance of self-reliance and domestic financing.
Of course, donor countries can spend their money where they want and they have the right to spend it where they want.
We are grateful to those that have for decades funded health systems globally.
But instead of an orderly decline, or an orderly withdrawal, the abrupt cuts to overseas development aid and a challenging economic and trade environment are sewing chaos in public health.
For example, advances in tackling neglected tropical diseases, which affect over one billion people and disproportionally impact the poorest and most marginalized communities, are at real risk of backsliding.
Thanks to the huge efforts of the U.S. government, more than three billion treatments have been delivered to 1.7 billion people in 26 countries over the past two decades.
The combination of 1.4 billion U.S. dollars from the United States, generous pharmaceutical donations, private sector innovation and largely public sector health workers, has helped stop transmission of lymphatic filariasis, river blindness, schistosomiasis, intestinal worms and trachoma in 14 countries.
Bangladesh, Benin, Cambodia, Colombia, Ecuador, Ghana, Guatemala, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Mali, Mexico, Nepal, Niger, Togo and Viet Nam – all achieved elimination of at least one NTD.
However, the abrupt cuts and withdrawal of U.S. funding, on top of other donor countries cutting investments to NTDs, have led to treatment campaigns for more than 140 million people being paused, and research on new medical tools being cut.
But it doesn’t have to be this way, and we urge governments to not turn their backs on the poorest and most marginalized and undermine decades of progress.
Unfortunately, this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Diseases continue to evolve, and with a heating world and protracted conflicts, there are continuing outbreaks and threats to health that need action.
The situation in Gaza is catastrophically bad.
Two months into the latest blockade, two million people in Gaza are being starved, while 116 000 tonnes of food is blocked at the border just minutes away.
Increasing hostilities, evacuation orders, shrinking humanitarian space and the aid blockade are driving an influx of casualties to a health system that is already on its knees.
Essential medicines, trauma and medical supplies are running out, threatening to reverse hard-won recovery and rehabilitation progress.
Attacks on hospitals stop patients from seeking health care out of fear for their own safety, and they put facilities out of service – severing a critical lifeline for the population.
People are dying from preventable diseases while medicines wait at the border. Their wounds are becoming infected while disinfectants sit in trucks at the border.
We don’t need to see photos of emaciated children to know people are hungry, and that children are weak and malnourished, with life-long consequences.
As Pope Francis said just a few weeks ago, we need “an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, for the release of the hostages… and for access to humanitarian aid.”
Peace is the best medicine.
From Gaza to cholera outbreaks.
Angola is currently facing its worst cholera outbreak in 20 years, with over 17 000 cases and more than 550 deaths since January.
Inadequate access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation are fuelling the outbreak.
Dr Silvia Lutucuta, Angola’s Minister of Health, has called it an “urgent national health emergency” and “an unprecedented spread of cholera.”
WHO and partners are working with the government on case detection, community engagement and a large-scale vaccination campaign that has already reached more than one million people.
One of the priorities is to bring the death rate down.
To speed up treatment, WHO is helping partners set up more rehydration points and cholera treatment centres, and trained staff working in these facilities.
With cholera outbreaks on the rise globally, it’s important countries invest in safe water and sanitation and cholera vaccine production is increased.
And, in Haiti gang violence is driving a deepening crisis.
Hunger has increased, access to health care has reduced, and economic hardship is growing.
On 22nd April, Hôpital Universitaire de Mirebalais, one of Haiti’s largest public hospitals, shut due to the violence.
In Port-au-Prince, more than 40 percent of health facilities remain closed.
Despite incredibly difficult circumstances, Haitian health-care workers continue to provide care to the population.
PAHO/WHO is supporting health workers and the La Paix University hospital, the only public hospital in Port-au-Prince capable of managing a high influx of trauma cases.
Whether it is Gaza, Haiti or Angola, there are a range of serious public health threats that WHO is working to tackle.
Many of you have come to ask questions about the changes being made in WHO due to the financial cuts to health.
We can take your questions on that and it is of course very painful process.
I outlined in a Member States’ briefing in April a revised programme budget, a new organizational structure was announced.
However, the story of a decline in overseas development aid is not just about WHO or health agencies in Geneva or elsewhere, it is about the real health impact this decline is having on people in many countries.
The Pandemic Accord and defeat of Ebola in Uganda demonstrate that when we tackle problems together, we can make historic steps forward.
The backsliding of progress we’re starting to see is not inevitable.
This week marked World Immunization Week.
Since the 1970s, immunization has saved more than 150 million lives, from diseases like measles, diphtheria, pertusis and polio.
That’s more than 4 million lives per year.
Over the last 50 years, vaccination accounts for 40% of the improvement in baby survival rates, and more children now live to celebrate their first birthday than at any other time in human history.
I can confidently say that vaccines are one of the best gifts we can give to our children and grandchildren to enable them to pursue their talents and dreams.
Now more than ever, we must work together for public health and we must work together for peace.
Fadéla, back to you.
Post- briefing links:
CANTO – Presser (Full) 1 May 2025 – AUDIO mp3
[https://who.canto.global/b/OJRQI]
CANTO – Presser (Full) 1 May 2025 – VIDEO mp4
[https://who.canto.global/b/JO0Q6]
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