WHA highlights unity, equity
Nations support leadership role of WHO in global endeavors against COVID-19 pandemic
The World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of the World Health Organization, has called for unity, a stronger WHO role and equity amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
As COVID-19 infections have ballooned to more than 4.5 million worldwide and the death toll surpassed 300,000, speakers at the 73rd WHA agreed that no single country can overcome a health crisis of such a scale alone, reaffirming their commitment to cooperation and solidarity.
They also stressed the WHO’s leading role in coordinating the global response to the pandemic and called for equitable access to vaccines and medications among all nations.
The discussion on COVID-19, a main topic of this year’s meeting and its first-ever virtual session on May 18, has moved beyond a health topic and raised some fundamental questions about global governance.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, one of the first speakers at the May 18 session, talked about how COVID-19 has exposed global fragility. Despite the enormous scientific and technological advances of recent decades, “a microscopic virus has brought us to our knees”, Guterres said while delivering a speech via video link.
“COVID-19 must be a wake-up call,” Guterres noted, saying that feelings of powerlessness must lead to greater humility and deadly global threats require a new unity and solidarity.
“We have seen some solidarity, but very little unity, in our response to COVID-19,” said the UN secretarygeneral.
Echoing Guterres’ words, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reiterated that “the two essential ingredients for conquering this virus” are national unity and global solidarity, urging the world to take lessons from the pandemic and make the world safer and more resilient.
Past experience from fighting SARS, the H1N1 pandemic and the Ebola epidemic in West Africa highlighted shortcomings in global health security, but some of the problems went unheeded, Tedros warned.
“The world can no longer afford the short-term amnesia that has characterized its response to health security for too long,” he told the virtual assembly.
“The world does not lack the tools, the science, or the resources to make it safer from pandemics. What it has lacked is the sustained commitment to use the tools, the science and the resources it has,” Tedros said.
The 73rd annual World Health Assembly is the first virtual version in its history, bringing the representatives from the WHO’s 194 member states together online.
The assembly elected Keva Bain, permanent representative of the Bahamas to the United Nations in Geneva, as the president of the 73rd session.
Five vice-presidents were also elected from China, Republic of Congo, San Marino, Sudan and Thailand, the WHO said.
Most of the speakers recognized the WHO’s leading role in coordinating the global fight against COVID-19 and took the opportunity to express gratitude and support for the WHO.
Guterres called the WHO “irreplaceable”, a term that was repeatedly taken up by leaders and health ministers across the globe.
Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed China’s staunch support for the WHO in his speech, calling on the international community to increase political and financial support for the WHO so as to mobilize resources worldwide to defeat the virus. “At this crucial juncture, to support WHO is to support international cooperation and the battle for saving lives as well,” Xi said.
Simonetta Sommaruga, president of the Swiss Confederation that hosts the WHO’s headquarters, thanked the WHO for its tireless commitment to tackle the pandemic.
“Our support to you (WHO director-general) is based on our commitment to multilateralism, solidarity and international cooperation,” Sommaruga said. “Today, more than ever, these things are absolutely essential and they need to be strengthened.”
“In this time of great crisis, we need unity, not division. We cannot allow the politicization of this pandemic. Ireland stands shoulder to shoulder with the WHO,” said Irish Health Minister Simon Harris.
Many delegates, drawing from their own nation’s experience in fighting COVID-19, recognized the importance of the WHO’s protocols and guidelines when the novel coronavirus broke out, and expressed willingness to work with the organization to strengthen global health systems. Moreover, there was also considerable discussion on the issue of financing.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in her address: “The WHO is a legitimate world organization in the area of health. We should continue to work to improve the procedures within the WHO. We should also look into its financing to ensure that it is sustainable.”
The US government has halted most of its funding to the WHO, drawing widespread international condemnation.
“I am convinced that we will be able to overcome this pandemic when we work together, and that will help us to achieve this more rapidly,” Merkel said.
In a video message, French President Emmanuel Macron stressed the need for more funding to the WHO, which he said plays an irreplaceable role in coordinating action thanks to its scientific expertise and knowledge of the situation on the ground.
Another theme that recurred frequently in the member states’ statements are calls for equitable access to vaccines and medications, and for particular attention to vulnerable groups in society and population in developing countries, so that “no one is left behind”. Many countries agreed that COVID-19 vaccines should be a global public good that will be available to everyone.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa urged more assistance, debt relief and medical supplies, in particular, for developing countries.
“Africa is extremely vulnerable to the ravages of this virus, and needs every possible support and assistance,” Ramaphosa said.
Ramaphosa, who is also chair of the African Union, said Africa affirms its full support for the WHO, which has been key in guiding the international response to the pandemic.
South Korean President Moon Jaein said that his country will provide $100 million in humanitarian aid this year and will continue to share its experiences in fighting epidemics with the international community.
“In the face of this crisis, humankind must choose solidarity and cooperation over the pursuit of individual interests. The world must unite under the banner of mutual trust and inclusiveness in the face of deepening crisis,” he said.
Tedros warned that “the majority of the world’s population remains susceptible to this virus and the risk remains high”, although coronavirus restrictions are gradually being eased in a number of countries.
Guterres reiterated the UN’s call for a coordinated large-scale response led by the WHO with emphasis on solidarity with developing countries and vulnerable people.
“We are as strong as the weakest health systems,” Guterres said. “Protecting the developing world is not a matter of charity or generosity but a question of enlightened selfinterest. The global North cannot defeat COVID-19 unless the global South defeats it at the same time.”
In his speech, President Xi said COVID-19 vaccine development and deployment in China, when available, will be made a global public good. This will be China’s contribution to ensuring vaccine accessibility and affordability in developing countries.
To achieve that impact, Ben Cavender, managing director of the China Market Research Group, called for the early availability of vaccines from China, saying it is a positive act of goodwill for China to share with the world its vaccine development progress.
Xi pledged that China will provide $2 billion over two years to help with COVID-19 response and with economic and social development in affected countries, in particular developing nations.
“The message from President Xi Jinping has inspired us so much to fight the pandemic,” Bounkong Syhavong, president of the 72nd session of the WHA, told the assembly, attended online by representatives from 194 member states.
“President Xi’s words are directing China to support the WHO and global needs, especially in developing nations. We need such leadership and concrete support across the world,” said Stephen Perry, chairman of The 48 Group Club, a British organization promoting commercial, cultural and educational relations with China.
Lee Jung-nam, a professor at the Asiatic Research Institute at Korea University in Seoul, said, “President Xi’s speech and China’s experience show that China values its people’s lives and it has developed a mature system to cope with health emergencies.”
Igor Shatrov, deputy director of Russia’s National Institute for the Development of Modern Ideology, said what President Xi said in his speech shows that only united coordination by the whole world can conquer the pandemic as well as other common challenges.
Serik Korzhumbayev, editor-inchief of the newspaper Delovoy Kazakhstan, said the Chinese leadership has taken efficient, science-based and transparent measures to ensure the country’s great success in bringing the COVID-19 epidemic under control.