WHO Calls for Worldwide Unity and Solidarity

The director of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, affirmed on Monday that if the world wants to develop, it has to invest in the health sector to face emergencies, when inaugurating the work of the 73rd World Health Assembly, which is meeting virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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“Health is not a luxury, it is a necessity. It is not a reward for development, on the contrary, it is a prerequisite; It is not a cost, it is an investment. The path to security, prosperity and peace," said the head of the World Health Organization (WHO).

He warned that the new coronavirus affects other achievements of the health systems, including the maternal and child program and the fight against HIV. He stated that despite the economic and military power of many nations, the virus gives us a lesson in humility.

Such statements occur in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and how its effects include economic and social ones. "More than 4 and a half million cases have been reported to the WHO and more than 300,000 people have died. Every life that is lost leaves a wound, a scar on families, communities and nations, ”he said.

He also pointed out that the majority of the world population is still susceptible to the new coronavirus. He stressed that nations have come together to deal with the health emergency but this virus "is efficient, fast and lethal." He added that we must treat the virus with the respect and attention it deserves.

Regarding the lifting of restrictions in some nations, the WHO director said that the body "fully understands and supports the desire of countries to get back on their feet, to get back to work."

However, he called on nations to be cautious. "Countries that move too fast without having established adequate public health scaffolding to detect and suppress transmission are at real risk of affecting their recovery."

Tedros discussed how the WHO has offered science-based technical guidelines and advice since the early stages of the disease. He pointed to the declaration of a pandemic to Covid-19 on January 30 and the rise in levels of risk perception.

"Our biggest failure would be not learning the lessons (...) and leaving the world in the same vulnerable state that it was before (...) If there is something good that we can take away with it, it is the need for the world to be one more place safe and more resilient ”, he stressed.

He also announced that a draft resolution is being presented to the Assembly for a comprehensive and impartial independent evaluation that will take into account all the responses given by all interested parties in good faith.

"The only path to the future is a united path," he added.