Honourable Secretary of Health of the Philippines Teodoro Herbosa, President of the Assembly.
Ministers, heads of delegation, Deputy Director-General Mike Ryan, dear colleagues and friends,
My deep gratitude to you, Mr President, for your leadership as President of the Seventy-eighth World Health Assembly.
You have presided over an historic Assembly, and you had the honour of being the President who banged the gavel on the adoption of the WHO Pandemic Agreement.
It therefore gives me great pleasure to present you with the ceremonial gavel as a token of our appreciation.
[DG PRESENTS SECRETARY HERBOSA WITH THE CEREMONIAL GAVEL]
I would also like to offer my sincere thanks to the Chairs of Committees A and B:
First, Dr Esperance Luvindao, the Honourable Minister of Health and Social Services of Namibia, for your leadership as Chair of Committee A.
You were in the chair when the Pandemic Agreement was approved in Committee A last Monday night, the 20th of May 2025 – the moment when we all realized, “We’ve done it”. You managed a large agenda reflecting the huge range of WHO’s work.
I invite you to come forward to receive the ceremonial gavel as a token of our appreciation.
[DG PRESENTS DR LUVINDAO WITH THE CEREMONIAL GAVEL]
Second, I thank Ms Katarzyna Drążek-Laskowska, Director of the Department of International Cooperation of Poland, for your leadership as Chair of Committee B.
You also managed a very large and diverse agenda, covering a range of important technical, political and administrative issues. Today, I think you broke a record for the number of votes in Committee B.
I invite you to come forward to receive the ceremonial gavel as a token of our appreciation.
[DG PRESENTS DRĄŻEK-LASKOWSKA WITH THE CEREMONIAL GAVEL]
Colleagues, please join me once again in thanking the President, the Chairs and all of our Vice-Presidents, Vice-Chairs and Rapporteurs for their leadership and service of this Health Assembly.
[APPLAUSE]
I would also like to use this opportunity to thank the EB Chair Dr Jerome Walcott and the PBAC Chair, Dr Cathrine Lofthus. They have prepared everything for the success of this Assembly. Please give them your appreciation.
[APPLAUSE]
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Mr President,
Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,
On Friday afternoon, I left the Health Assembly early to attend my daughter Blen’s high-school graduation.
When we moved to Geneva eight years ago, she was a child. Now she is a young woman, with her future ahead of her.
As any parent would be, I am very proud of her, and I am excited to see where life takes her.
But as any parent would be, I also worry for her, and about the world she is entering.
It’s an uncertain world; a world beset by war, poverty, inequality and division;
A world threatened by pandemics and epidemics, unhealthy diets, polluted air and water, unsafe roads, and the overshadowing threat of climate change.
In the past week I have met with Ministers of Health from almost 50 countries, including many facing severe crises, such as Haiti, Lebanon, Palestine, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Syria and Ukraine.
I have been reminded of the immense suffering of so many people in our world.
But I’ve also been reminded that although there are many reasons to worry, there are also many reasons to hope.
The words “historic” and “landmark” are overused, but they are perfectly apt to describe the adoption last Tuesday of the WHO Pandemic Agreement.
Likewise, your approval of the next increase in assessed contributions was a strong vote of confidence in your WHO at this critical time. Thank you so much.
In addition, you have adopted several important resolutions on many areas of the Organization’s technical work:
You adopted a new target to halve the health impacts of air pollution by 2040;
You adopted new targets for nutrition in mothers and young children;
You agreed to strengthen regulation of digital marketing of formula milk and baby foods;
You adopted a new global strategy for traditional medicine;
For the first time, you adopted resolutions on lung health and kidney health;
You adopted a resolution for a lead-free future;
You established World Cervical Cancer Elimination Day and World Prematurity Day as official WHO health campaigns;
And you adopted other resolutions on digital health, Guinea worm disease, health financing, the health and care workforce, medical imaging, nursing and midwifery, rare diseases, sensory impairment, skin diseases, social connection and more.
In all of these resolutions, you expressed the collective will of the nations of the world – the United Nations – to work together on a shared approach to shared problems.
Your work this week reflects the vast scope of WHO’s mission and mandate.
Yes, WHO faces many challenges, but you have shown unequivocal support to meet those challenges.
Yes, there is conflict in our world, but you have shown that there is also cooperation;
Yes, there is division, but you have shown that there is also unity;
Yes, there is inequity, but you have shown a commitment to equity;
Yes, there is disease, but you have shown a commitment to health – health for all.
Thank you all for your work this week – a week in which you, the nations of the world, made history.
Thank you for your support for WHO, and for your continuing commitment to this Organization’s founding vision: the highest attainable standard of health – not as a luxury for some, but a right for all.
Thank you so much. Deep gratitude from myself and the whole WHO family, and I wish you a safe trip home.