Honourable Ministers, Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,
Good morning, good afternoon and good evening.
When you elected me as Director-General three-and-a-half years ago, we began a process of transforming WHO from the inside out.
Transformation has been out of the spotlight this year, but that does not mean it stopped. Quite the opposite, in fact.
Even with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, many aspects of WHO’s Transformation Agenda are already coming to life, and have been crucial in enabling us to respond to this global crisis while sustaining our core programmes.
At its core, WHO is a learning organization, committed to continuous improvement and accountability. We take change as a constant. Science and disease patterns are continually evolving, and we must evolve with them.
The pandemic has been an important test for our Transformation – it has shown that we are changing and that many of the changes introduced are already bearing fruit.
I will give you a few highlights:
The new Science Division established a fast-track review mechanism to ensure the timeliness, coherence and quality of all WHO guidance, beginning with COVID-19.
The Global Preparedness Monitoring Board is closely supporting us because of the COVID situation, and moving from strength to strength.
Our new partnerships with Facebook, Twitter, Google, and others have helped to counter mis-information about the pandemic and brought reliable information to over 2.2 billion people in more than 75 languages.
The landmark partnership established through the ACT Accelerator has worked to speed up the development and equitable access to medicines, diagnostics and vaccines.
Our resource mobilization campaign for the COVID-19 Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan was the most successful in WHO’s history, and also with that the establishment of the WHO Foundation in May.
These changes are already helping us in our relentless pursuit of the GPW13 and its “triple billion” targets, which are more relevant and important than ever.
The WHO transformation agenda is rooted in three strategic objectives.
First, to drive impact at country level. Everything we do must make a difference for the people we serve, and this takes capacity building as a basis at the country level. The new WHO Academy will have a big role in building capacity at country level.
Second, to make sure that this organization is fit-for-purpose to deliver, and that our national, regional, and international efforts are working cooperatively and coherently.
Third, we must leverage our partners and the global community to drive health outcomes and develop new partnerships and resource mobilization initiatives.
Underpinning all these objectives is the effort to create an environment where the WHO workforce can thrive: more skillful through diversity; more motivated through respect; and more effective through coordination.
In the internal capacity building, the WHO Academy will also have a role, because we have to help our staff to grow through internal capacity building programmes.
Transformation is about shedding our old skin, so that we can be the creative, dynamic organization that we need to be to serve you, our Member States, in our mission to promote health, keep the world safe, and serve the vulnerable.
The 2020 Progress Report lays out in detail the wide-ranging scope of our transformation and the concrete results it is producing.
The report shows that while we are headed in the right direction, we still have a long journey ahead.
The insights and suggestions of you, our Member States, will be critical in this evolution.
We also look forward to input from the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Review, the IHR Review Committee, the Independent Oversight and Advisory Committee of the WHO Emergencies Programme, as well as from the ongoing evaluation of the transformation itself.
In addition to that there are also some in the pipeline, as you know:
The Universal Health and Preparedness Review, the biobank, storing pathogens, the economic advisory council and the Youth Council.
As I said earlier, we believe in change and change should be constant. We will keep improving our organization, repositioning and making sure that it’s fit for purpose.
As always, there will be time for your questions after the presentations. Our senior staff and experts are at your disposal. We look forward to receiving your inputs and guidance.
I thank you