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| No images? Click here Tuesday, 8 March 2022 WHO Director-General's keynote speech at the Global Pandemic Preparedness Summit Good morning, everyone. It’s a real pleasure to be back in London, of course I consider myself as a Londoner because I studied here, and to see so many friends and colleagues again in person. My thanks to CEPI and to the Government of the United Kingdom for your hospitality, and for your support – not just for this event, but for global health. I remember coming here to the Science Museum when I was a student at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine more than 30 years ago. As it did then, this museum continues to tell a powerful story – the story of how science, research and innovation have transformed our world, and enabled millions of people to live longer and healthier lives. Perhaps no single innovation has done that more powerfully than vaccines. Almost 200 years since the death of Edward Jenner, we all continue to benefit from the incredible gift he gave the world – a gift that has changed the course of history and changed the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. I’m particularly delighted that Dame Sarah Gilbert is with us today. Dame Sarah, thank you for your life of science and service, and thank you for the lives you and your colleagues have helped to save in this pandemic. My respect and appreciation. Today, on International Women’s Day, I also want to acknowledge the many women who have made such an incredible contribution to science and health, starting from our own Chief Scientist, Soumya Swaminathan, who is here with us today. === In the wake of the West African Ebola epidemic, there was a collective realization that the world needed a much more robust approach to research and development of countermeasures against pathogens with epidemic and pandemic potential. The WHO Research and Development Blueprint was born: a global strategy for fast-tracking the development of tests, vaccines and medicines during epidemics. WHO developed research roadmaps, target product profiles and trial designs to evaluate tools for a set of priority diseases, including two coronaviruses – those that cause MERS and SARS – and an as-yet unidentified disease – which we called Disease X. There was also the recognition that this effort would need to be supported by significant investments, and so CEPI was born two years later. Little did we know then that Disease X was just around the corner, in the form of a new coronavirus. The collaboration between WHO, CEPI and other partners under the R&D Blueprint helped give vaccine development for COVID-19 a head-start once we had the sequence of SARS-CoV-2. And CEPI’s partnership in the ACT Accelerator has been vital in supporting the rapid development of multiple vaccines, including three that have received WHO Emergency Use Listing. But of course, COVID-19 will not be the last Disease X. Epidemics and pandemics are a fact of nature, exacerbated in our time by urbanization, encroachment on habitats, the climate crisis and insecurity. There can be no health without peace, and no peace without health – and that is true everywhere, from Ethiopia to Syria, Yemen and Ukraine. As we speak, WHO is working to deliver humanitarian assistance in Ukraine, but the real solution to this crisis is peace. What’s happening in Ukraine is beyond heart-breaking. So, I call on the Russian Federation to commit to a peaceful resolution of this crisis, and to allow unhindered access to humanitarian assistance for those in need. A peaceful resolution is possible. Let’s give it a chance. === Dear colleagues and friends, It’s right that we are here to think about the future, and how to prevent, prepare for respond rapidly to future pandemics. At the same time, we must remain focused on ending the pandemic we are in. This pandemic is not over anywhere until it is over everywhere. I am often asked what the lessons of the pandemic are. Of course, as you know, there are many. Several of them were mentioned yesterday: the historic under-investment in public health; the infodemic of mis- and disinformation; and the deficit of trust. But let me highlight three specific lessons as they relate to CEPI, our CEPI. First, a commitment to science and research. The pandemic has taught us the incredible power of surveillance, genomics, diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics. But it has also exposed gaps and weaknesses in the global ecosystem. WHO is working with our Member States and partners to fill some of those gaps, including through the new WHO Hub for Epidemic and Pandemic Intelligence in Berlin, the WHO BioHub System for sharing pathogens in Geneva, and the soon-to-be-launched Global Genomics Surveillance strategy for pathogens with pandemic and epidemic potential. We also welcome the International Pathogen Surveillance Network, initiated under the UK’s G7 Presidency. But it’s clear that we also need to strengthen efforts to develop, evaluate and distribute vaccines, tests and treatments as rapidly and equitably as possible when a new pathogen emerges. That’s why I welcome CEPI’s 100 Days Mission and urge donors to fully fund CEPI’s 3.5 billion US dollar investment case. But the pandemic has also taught us that science can actually serve to widen inequalities rather than narrow them, which leads me to my second lesson: a commitment to equity. As we speak, 83% of the population of Africa is yet to receive a single dose of vaccine, and there is an even wider discrepancy in access to tests. This was a problem we saw coming, which is why we established the ACT Accelerator, which includes COVAX, almost two years ago. More recently we have also established the mRNA Technology Transfer Hub in South Africa, which has now developed its own vaccine candidate, and 13 countries have been approved to receive technology from the Hub. We have shown that these mechanisms work, but it has also become obvious that equity cannot be left to market forces, or goodwill, or shifting geopolitical currents. Which brings me to the third lesson: a commitment to partnership. In the face of a global threat, no single country, organization or agency can go it alone. Responding quickly and effectively requires close collaboration between partners, leveraging their collective strength. There is now a strong global consensus on the need for an enhanced global health architecture for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, with an empowered and sustainably financed WHO at its core, playing the leading, coordinating and normative role on which so many countries and partners depend. As you know, WHO’s Member States are now negotiating a new international accord, to establish the rules of the road for a more cohesive and harmonised global response to future epidemics and pandemics – including the equitable sharing of countermeasures. Ahead of the World Health Assembly in May, WHO’s Member States have tasked me with making a set of proposals on what that architecture should look like. And it’s clear that a fully funded CEPI, working closely with WHO and other partners, must be part of it. A commitment to CEPI is a commitment to science; A commitment to CEPI is a commitment to equity; A commitment to CEPI is a commitment to partnership. And financing, fully-funding CEPI is a commitment for a better future. I look forward to our continued partnership as we work together for a healthier, safer, fairer future. But if that’s going to happen, we ask you, on WHO’s behalf, and on behalf of all the ACT-A partners and beyond, to fully fund CEPI. US$ 3.5 billion compared to what we lost due to the pandemic, some finance ministers call it a rounding error, or peanuts. But I will not undermine it as such, but I can argue that it is worth the investment, and please support CEPI, which has already made us proud and will continue to make us proud. Thank you so much and very glad to be with you. Thank you. Media contacts: You are receiving this NO-REPLY email because you are included on a WHO mail list.
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