“ Countries spend vast sums preparing for the threat of a terrorist attack, but relatively little preparing for the attack of a virus, which can be far more damaging, and far more costly” A DECISIVE YEAR FOR GLOBAL HEALTH
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TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was elected director-general of the World Health Organization in 2017 and re-elected for a second term in 2022. He was the first person from the WHO African Region to serve as WHO’s chief technical and administrative officer. He served as Ethiopia’s minister of foreign affairs from 2012 to 2016 and minister of health from 2005 to 2012. He was elected chair of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Board in 2009, and previously chaired the Roll Back Malaria Partnership Board, and co-chaired the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Board. in which countries that are otherwise political and economic rivals can work together to build a common approach to common threats. Indeed, that is what countries are doing, in negotiating a new legally binding pandemic accord and amendments to the International Health Regulations, the instrument of international law that governs the global response to health emergencies. At this year’s United Nations General Assembly, countries also agreed on political declarations on pandemic preparedness and response, universal health coverage and tuberculosis. The negotiations are not always easy, and there remain areas of contention between countries, particularly concerning equitable access to health technologies. However, just as in 1948 when countries came together in the aftermath of the bloodiest war in history to establish the WHO, now countries must come together in the wake of the most severe health crisis in a century to chart a new path forward together. The challenges we face may be different, but the vision remains the same: health as a human right, and the foundation of peace and security. ▪ the food they eat and the conditions in which they live and work. Creating healthy populations is therefore not solely the task of ministries of health, but requires health-promoting policies in trade, commerce, education, energy, agriculture, urban planning, transport and more. The health challenges we face today have changed considerably since the WHO was founded in 1948. Non-communicable diseases now account for 70% of all deaths globally; obesity rates have skyrocketed; antimicrobial resistance threatens to unwind a century of medical progress; and air pollution and climate change are jeopardising the very habitability of the planet on which all life depends. These challenges have no regard for the lines humans draw on maps, nor for ideologies, religions, economic or military might, or for anything else that we use to divide ourselves from each other. The need for multilateral cooperation is therefore greater than ever, and so is the opportunity. At a time of polarisation, health is one of the few areas
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7 Health: A Political Choice – From Fragmentation to Integration
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