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INTRODUCTIONS
“ In these divided and divisive times, health is one of the few areas in which countries that are otherwise political and economic rivals can work together to build a common approach to common threats” TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was elected director-general of the World Health Organization in 2017 and re-elected 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. X-TWITTER @DrTedros who.int
including through pooled procurement, public health insurance, and ‘health taxes’ on tobacco, alcohol and sugary drinks. Since 2022, at least 116 countries have introduced or increased such taxes, and in July this year, the WHO launched the ‘3 by 35’ initiative, which aims to support countries to increase the real prices of these three health-harming products by at least 50% by 2035. Let me close by highlighting three major priorities going forward. First, the mindset of aid dependency has to stop. Now is the time for leadership from governments to shake off the yoke of aid dependency and chart the path to self-reliance by mobilising domestic resources to support primary health care as the foundation of universal health coverage. Second, we need leadership from lenders, in the form of concessional lending, at fair terms. And third, we need leadership from generous donors, to
help build capacity for health programmes so countries can run them themselves, rather than setting up parallel systems of salaries and operating costs. Self-reliance means national systems, national budgets and national priorities, in alignment with the Lusaka Agenda and the principles of ‘one plan, one budget, one report’. The WHO stands ready to support all countries, and to work with all partners to turn this crisis into an opportunity. The choices we make now will shape the future of global health financing. Ultimately, health is not a cost to be contained. It is an investment to be nurtured – an investment in people, stability and economic growth, so that we can achieve Health for All and build a healthier, safer and fairer world. ▪
Health: A Political Choice – The Future of Health in a Fractured World 9
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