Honourable Ministers, Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,
Good morning, good afternoon and good evening to all Member States, and thank you for joining us once again.
When I last spoke to you two weeks ago, cases and deaths from COVID-19 were at their lowest level in a year. Since then, both cases and deaths have increased, driven by an increase in the European region that outweighs declines in other regions.
More than 5 million deaths have now been reported to WHO. We are still losing more than 50 thousand of our sisters and brothers every week.
How many more lives we lose is up to us.
Let me be very clear: the pandemic is still far from over. We continue to call on all Member States to use every tool to suppress transmission and save lives.
We cannot end the pandemic without vaccines, but vaccines alone will not end the pandemic. Vaccines do not replace the need for public health and social measures – they complement them.
Physical distancing, limiting crowds, masks, ventilation, hand hygiene and other effective public health measures remain important.
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Even as we work day and night responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, we must also continue to improve the response.
Intra-action reviews are an important tool for that Member States can use to evaluate what’s working, and what’s not.
They give countries critical feedback to improve the immediate response and long-term health security.
More than 100 intra-action reviews have now been conducted by 68 Member States.
Several countries have conducted multiple intra-action reviews, including South Africa, which has done 10, making it a central component of its response.
Several key lessons emerge:
The need for strong and active national leadership at the highest levels;
Flexibility and adaptability, by adapting and repurposing existing systems, guidelines and resources;
Multi-sectoral cooperation;
And, in the case of vaccine roll-out, the need for adequate cold chain capacity and real-time monitoring of vaccine stock.
In a few moments, Dr Stella Chungong and Dr Liviu Vedrasco will present on the updated, streamlined guidance and other tools for Intra-Action Reviews, and the lessons learned at the country level.
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The pandemic persists in large part because inequitable access to tools persists.
Eighty times more tests, and 30 times more vaccines, have been administered in high-income countries than low-income countries.
This is the scenario that the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator was set up last year to prevent.
We have shown that the ACT Accelerator works.
So far, WHO and our partners have delivered 433 million vaccine doses to 144 countries through COVAX.
We’ve delivered more than 128 million tests;
And we have increased the supply of oxygen, personal protective equipment and treatments, including nearly 3 million doses of dexamethasone.
But the ACT Accelerator has so far been prevented from fulfilling its potential by severe supply and financing constraints.
We’re pleased to see that COVAX is picking up speed. More vaccines were delivered in October than any month so far, and more than in the first six months of this year combined.
But we still have a lot of work to do to reach our target of securing sufficient vaccine for 40% of the population of every country by the end of this year.
Last week, we released the new plan and budget for the ACT Accelerator, with an ask of US$ 23.4 billion to meet our global targets and deliver the tools to Member States over the next 12 months.
Fully funding the ACT Accelerator is an essential component of WHO’s Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan, our overarching plan for bringing the pandemic under control.
Making these investments could save more than 5 million lives, primarily in low- and lower-middle income countries in the coming year alone.
And US$ 23.4 billion is a drop in the ocean compared with the cost of failing to end the pandemic. If the COVID-19 pandemic is not brought under control, the IMF warns that global GDP will be reduced by more than US$ 5 trillion over the next five years.
Of course, vaccines, tests, treatments and other supplies don’t deliver or administer themselves.
Effective in-country emergency operations, supported by strong health systems, are essential for turning vaccines into vaccinations, tests into testing, and treatments into lives saved.
One of the key recommendations of the recent ACT Accelerator strategic review was to fundamentally redesign the Health Systems Connector pillar, to drive better in-country delivery and integrate it more tightly in the COVID-19 response at national and global levels.
Today, you will hear about the redesigned Health Systems and Response Connector, and I’m pleased to welcome its co-convenors, Mr Peter Sands, the Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and Dr Juan Pablo Uribe, the head of Health, Nutrition and Population and the Global Financing Facility at the World Bank.
As always, we are grateful for your engagement with today’s presentation, and we look forward to your questions, comments and guidance.
I thank you.