Honourable Ministers,
Dear colleagues and friends,
I thank Ethiopia for its leadership in championing this critical issue, and China and Norway for co-hosting this event.
I said in my opening address on Monday that science, norms and standards are WHO’s bread and butter.
Countries depend on us for evidence-based guidelines, standards and tools.
As part of the WHO Transformation, we created the Office of the Chief Scientist to ensure our normative products are grounded in the highest-quality science, aligned with country needs, and delivered in a timely way.
But we must go further than writing and publishing normative products. We must make sure that countries adapt and use them.
In the past, WHO has not had an institutionalized way of “selling” our products to countries and training them in how to use them.
I experienced this myself when I was Minister of Health in Ethiopia. We wanted to transform the health system, and I was looking for guidance on how to do it.
It turned out WHO had exactly what I was looking for – but it wasn’t WHO that told me about it; I only found it by googling.
My experience is not unique.
Our technical products have often sat unused on a shelf, or unread in an inbox; outputs don’t become outcomes.
Many countries also face significant barriers to implementing WHO products, including limited governance, technical capacity, resources and infrastructure.
That’s why we have created the WHO Academy: a first-of-its-kind global health learning centre that will equip health and care workers, policymakers, and our own global workforce with the competencies and skills they need to deliver health for all.
This is an incredible resource for all countries. Please make the most of it.
We commend those Member States that are institutionalizing structures and systems for national guideline development and adaptation.
WHO remains committed to supporting countries to set priorities, adapt guidance and build the systems they need.
We look forward to enabling the development of a global framework and plan of action for building stronger national capacities for evidence-based decision-making.
Together, we can ensure that norms and standards do not remain on the shelf, but make a difference where they matter most: in countries, communities, clinics – and in the lives of the people we all serve.
I thank you.