Put health on the highest political agenda, WHO urges governments

Kiambu,

Thursday, September 14, 2023

KNA by Wangari Ndirangu

The World Health Organization has urged governments to put health for all on the highest political agenda and apply lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic.

As governments gather to make commitments around major health issues at the 78th Edition of United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) next week, WHO’s appeal comes as the world faces multiple humanitarian and climate-related crises that are threatening lives and livelihoods around the world.

WHO’s call for acceleration of achievement of health targets comes even as the Sustainable Development Goals Summit (SDG Summit) aims at strengthening pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response, delivering universal health coverage (UHC) and ending TB.

“As government leaders gather to make commitments around three major health issues, they have a chance to demonstrate that health is an investment, not a cost, and is fundamental to thriving, resilient families, societies, and economies,” WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a press statement ahead of the upcoming UN General Assembly.

He noted that if COVID-19 taught us nothing else, it’s that when health is at risk, everything is at risk.

“The pandemic caused enormous economic, social, and political upheaval, and stalled or reversed progress towards the health-related targets in the Sustainable Development Goals. The UN General Assembly is the moment for world leaders to show they have learned the painful lessons of the pandemic, and to take concrete steps towards a healthier, safer, and fairer world for all people,” Dr. Tedros noted.

He explained that progress in reducing infant and maternal mortality has stagnated and in some regions, rates have increased and progress in tackling infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria has faltered.

Many parts of the world, he added, were also seeing rollbacks of sexual and reproductive health and rights while access to life-saving tools is uneven across the world, with millions unable to afford or obtain needed care.

He observed that non-communicable diseases and mental disorders, which account for over 70 percent of deaths globally, threaten social and economic development everywhere, and yet new technologies and a renewed commitment to equity and sharing, following the pandemic, are positive developments.

“Ill health robs individuals, families, communities, and entire nations of opportunities to grow and flourish,” Dr. Tedros said adding that the fact that billions of people cannot access or afford essential health services exposes them to poverty, easily preventable and treatable diseases like TB, and to the impact of future epidemics and pandemics.

“In WHO’s 75th year, we are reminding the world of what our founders affirmed: that health is not only a fundamental human right, but also the foundation of safe, peaceful and prosperous societies,” the WHO boss said

Dr. Tedros will lead WHO’s delegation to UNGA and will, along with senior leadership, participate in high-level meetings with a number of other events, including the launch of an updated UHC Global Monitoring Report.

During the High level meetings and the SDG summit, that will run from 19th to @2nd September in New York, Heads of State and Government will take stock of progress on the midpoint to 2030 and in the context of multiple global crises, including SDG3 to achieve healthy lives and well-being for all.

One of the discussions will be on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response (PPPR) and Member States expect to come up with a declaration that aims at mobilizing political will at the national, regional and international levels.

Another meeting on the Universal Health Coverage convenes countries and stakeholders to accelerate progress toward health for all and discussions will include a review of implementation of the 2019 Political Declaration as well as noting gaps and solutions to move towards universal health coverage by 2030.

The third component of the meeting is on the fight against tuberculosis (TB) which will review the achievement of TB targets set out in the 2018 Political Declaration of the first General Assembly high level meeting on TB.

Stakeholders will identify gaps and solutions to accelerate progress towards ending the tuberculosis epidemic by 2030 and ensuring equitable access to prevention, testing, treatment and care.

The annual high-level General Debate will be under the theme “Rebuilding trust and reigniting global solidarity: Accelerating action on the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals towards peace, prosperity, progress and sustainability for all.”

Heads of State and Government and ministers from UN member states which include Kenya will explore solutions to the intertwined global challenges to advance peace, security and sustainable development.

Courtesy; KNA