Keynote lecture: Research for Universal Health Coverage
WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan
Global vaccine and immunization research forum
Bethesda, Maryland – 5 March 2014
Full text: http://www.who.int/dg/speeches/2014/research-uhc/en/

Excerpt
Distinguished conference participants, experts in science and public health, representatives of sister UN agencies and industry, ladies and gentlemen,

WHO is proud to join the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases as an organizer of this event. The combination of cutting-edge science, down-to-earth public health experience, and well-conceived and generous funding is unbeatable.

The Forum further benefits from the engagement of industry and its commitment to develop new vaccines and constantly improve existing ones, with a particular focus on the needs of users in remote and understaffed areas…

…Last month, I travelled to India to celebrate the country’s remarkable polio-free status for the past three years. India’s success tells the world there is no such thing as impossible.

This has been the spirit of EPI during its four decades of evolution. This is the spirit of the Decade of Vaccines and the cutting-edge science being presented during this Forum.

This is the spirit of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation: set ever higher goals and use research to make them feasible.

Immunization, like universal coverage, is a magnet for solidarity that transcends borders and sectors. It has compelling public and political appeal, and is an especially rewarding investment for national governments and donors.

And it still has tremendous unrealized potential.

In a sense, immunization programmes have matured to the point where they can now take a great leap ahead. And in this sense, we are just getting started as we aim ever higher.

Thank you.