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24 January 2023

POST PRESSER LINKS

WHO Director-General's opening remarks at the media briefing 24 January 2023

Good morning, good afternoon and good evening,

Since the beginning of December, the number of weekly reported deaths from COVID-19 has been increasing.

In total, in the past eight weeks, more than 170 thousand people have died of COVID-19.

That’s just reported deaths; the actual number of deaths is much higher.

Almost exactly three years on from declaring a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, our highest level of alert, this week the Emergency Committee on COVID-19 will meet to discuss whether the current situation still constitutes a global emergency.

While I will not pre-empt the advice of the Emergency Committee, I remain very concerned by the situation in many countries and the rising number of deaths.

While we are clearly in better shape than three years ago when this pandemic first hit, the global collective response is once again under strain.

Too few people – especially older people and health workers – are adequately vaccinated.

Too many people are behind on their boosters.

For too many people, antivirals remain expensive and out of reach.

And too many people don’t receive the right care.

Fragile health systems are struggling to cope with the burden of COVID-19, on top of caring for patients with other diseases including flu and RSV.

Surveillance and genetic sequencing have declined dramatically, making it more difficult to track known variants and detect new ones.

And there is a torrent of pseudo-science and misinformation circulating, which is undermining trust in safe and effective tools for COVID-19.

My message is clear – do not underestimate this virus, it has and will continue to surprise us and it will continue to kill, unless we do more to get health tools to people that need them and to comprehensively tackle misinformation.

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COVID-19 is not the only threat facing humanity.

Since the turn of the year, I have spoken about the myriad threats that demand an unprecedented response, from cholera to conflict to the climate crisis.

The number of people in need of humanitarian relief has increased by almost 25% compared with last year, to 339 million people.

80% of humanitarian needs globally are driven by conflict;

And around half of preventable maternal and child deaths occur in fragile, conflict-affected and vulnerable settings.

The world cannot look away and hope these crises resolve themselves.

That’s why we are calling on donors to support WHO’s Health Emergency Appeal for two and a half billion US dollars.

These funds will support WHO and its partners on the ground, helping the most vulnerable people in over 50 ongoing emergencies, including eleven grade 3 emergencies, which is our highest level.

With funding and urgent action, we can save lives, support recovery efforts, prevent the spread of diseases within countries and across borders, and help give communities the opportunity to rebuild for the future.

Without it, we will not reach all the people that need help the most.

Like former Prime Minister Gordon Brown said at the launch of the appeal; hope dies when drugs, vaccines and treatments are unavailable.

But hope will come alive if we can fund the medicines, provide the doctors, equip the health workers and avoid preventable deaths and suffering.

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Over the past four months, several countries have reported incidents of contaminated cough syrups for children.

Last year, WHO raised the alarm by issuing medical alerts in October focused on the Gambia, in November about Indonesia, and earlier this month regarding Uzbekistan.

The cases in these three countries are associated with more than 300 deaths, but we know that at least seven countries have been affected.

Most of the deaths have been in children under the age of five.

These contaminants are toxic chemicals used as industrial solvents and antifreeze agents that can be fatal even in small amounts, and should never be found in medicines.

This week, WHO released an urgent call for countries, manufacturers and suppliers to do more to prevent, detect and respond quickly to contaminated medicines.

Governments must increase surveillance so they can detect and remove from circulation any substandard medicines identified in the WHO medical alerts.

They must also enforce legal measures to help stop the manufacture, distribution and use of substandard and falsified medicines.

And manufacturers must purchase pharmaceutical grade ingredients from qualified suppliers and conduct comprehensive testing before using them;

And suppliers must always check for signs of contaminated medicines and only distribute or sell medicines authorized by, and from sources approved by, competent authorities;

All unnecessary deaths hurt but when children die that pain is magnified and demands a requisite response.

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Yesterday, WHO published a major report on trans fat, showing that globally, 5 billion people remain unprotected from these toxic chemicals that are used in many foods, and increase the risk of heart disease and death.

In 2018, WHO launched and our partners issued a global call to eliminate trans fat, which have zero known health benefits, but carry huge health risks.

At the time, only 550 million people were protected by policies prohibiting the use of industrially produced trans fat, mostly in high-income countries in Europe and the Americas.

Today, 43 countries, accounting for one third of the world’s population, have implemented such policies.

Last year, India became the first lower-middle income country to adopt best-practice policy.

Bangladesh, the Philippines and Ukraine have all passed policies that will come into force in the coming years, and Nigeria and Sri Lanka are expected to pass their policies soon.

So there has been major progress, but there is still a lot more to do.

I salute those countries and manufacturers that have already stepped up and call on all countries and all manufacturers to get rid of trans fat once and for all.

Because food should be a source of health, not a cause of disease.

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And I want to close by saying we deplore the abduction of our WHO colleague, who was taken by unidentified assailants from his car on 23 January in the town of Menaka in northern Mali.

We are working with local authorities to investigate the abduction and ensure our colleague’s quick return to his family.

Health workers should never be a target.

LINKS: WHO Director-General's opening remarks at the media briefing – 24 January 2023

Audio file from today's presser: https://who.canto.global/b/PRLP3

Trans fat report: Five billion people unprotected from trans fat leading to heart disease (who.int)

Funding Appeal: WHO launches funding appeal to help a record number of people in complex, intersecting health emergencies

Contaminated Medicines: WHO urges action to protect children from contaminated medicines

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