The 71st World Health Assembly gets underway with the DG advocating a unique approach to preventing outbreaks
The Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has described health as the most precious commodity in the world.
He said this while speaking at the opening session of the 71st World Health Assembly holding at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.
According to him, the WHO is charged with defending the health of 7 billion people which is a task that bears great responsibility, and the organization must be held to high standards.
While describing the global response to the reemergence of Ebola virus disease in DR Congo, the WHO DG revealed that the response is better positioned to control the spread of the disease than it was in 2014.
However, he stressed the need to strengthen health systems across the world to prevent future outbreaks.
“The best thing to do to prevent future outbreaks is to strengthen health systems everywhere. We must act with the sense of urgency in everything we do. because every moment we lose is a matter of life and death,” WHO DG said.
Within the past year, he revealed that WHO has responded to 50 emergencies in 46 countries including Nigeria.
It would be recalled that Ghebreyesus was elected as the WHO DG at last year’s World Health Assembly, a feat he described as the greatest honor of his life.
In his speech he recounted his experience when he met a Nigerian girl during his recent visit to the camp for internally displaced persons in Maiduguri, northern Nigeria.
“In spite of what has happened to her family, I could see happiness in her eyes,” Tedros told the World Health Assembly.
He revealed the WHO’s new General Programme of Work (GPW) is focused on major impacts in countries and making major difference in the lives of the people the organization serve.
He also called for a stronger and transforming WHO, while also revealing that women outnumber men in senior WHO leadership rank