WHO Director-General’s remarks at the Munich Security Conference – 18 February 2022
Speech
18 February 2022
[Excerpt]
…Taking those recommendations into account, last month WHO’s Executive Board tasked me with developing a set of proposals on strengthening the global architecture for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, to be considered by all Member States at the World Health Assembly in May.

In brief, I see three key pillars of that architecture. 

First, we need stronger governance. I think that has been raised by the panelists. Instead of the confusion and incoherence that has fueled this pandemic, we need cooperation and collaboration in the face of common threats, that can address the trust deficit that we have seen.

At a Special Session of the World Health Assembly at the end of last year, WHO’s 194 Member States agreed to negotiate a new legally-binding instrument, to set the rules of the game for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.

WHO also supports the recommendation for a heads of state council, to provide high-level political leadership for rapid and coordinated action. In our view, such a council must be anchored in the constitutional mandate of WHO, to ensure political, strategic and technical coherence.

Second, we need stronger systems and tools to prevent, detect, and respond rapidly to epidemics and pandemics. Already, WHO has taken steps to build some of these systems and tools, including the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence in Berlin, to enhance global surveillance through collaborative intelligence; We’re piloting the WHO BioHub System, a new mechanism for countries to share novel biological materials; Several countries are now piloting the Universal Health and Preparedness Review, a new peer-review mechanism for enhancing national preparedness;

We established the ACT Accelerator, which has given us valuable experience and insights into how to fast-track equitable access to countermeasures; And to strengthen capacities for local production of vaccines and other health products in low- and middle-income countries, we have established the WHO Technology Transfer Hub in South Africa, which has now developed its own mRNA COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

Today we announced the first six African countries to receive technology from the hub to produce their own mRNA vaccines: Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia. But above all, not only the systems and tools, the central point will be developing the workforce. And that is why we are building the WHO Academy in Lyon, France.

And third, we need stronger financing. It’s obvious that nationally and globally, we need substantial resources for strengthening global health security. Our analysis estimates the needs at US$ 31 billion per year.

We estimate that about US$20 billion could come from existing and projected domestic and international resources, leaving a gap of US$ 10 billion per year. To close the gap for the most essential functions – such as surveillance, research and market-shaping for countermeasures – we support the idea of a new dedicated financing facility, anchored in, and directed by, WHO’s constitutional mandate, inclusive governance and technical expertise.

Any efforts to strengthen the global health security architecture can only succeed if they also strengthen WHO’s role at its centre, rather than creating further mechanisms that would only create further fragmentation and potentially leave the world less safe…