In the words of the Director-General of WHO, Dr Tedros, “there cannot be health without peace, and there cannot be peace without health”.
Around the world we see a concentration of global crises, leaving an ever-increasing number of people with humanitarian needs and eroding human rights.
Honorable Members, Senators, colleagues, the long-standing collaboration between WHO and IPU enhancing parliamentary engagement on health has never been more critical.
Building around health is both a pre-condition and an outcome of inclusiveness. It challenges discrimination and delivers on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is also a tracer indicator of how successful societies are in efforts to promote peaceful coexistence.
WHO is promoting diversity within our Organization, addressing abuses and challenging unequal gender relations that affect the ability of women, men, and LGBTQI+ people to access quality health services.
We support countries to strengthen health policies, including through our Global Health For Peace Initiative, research on sexual and reproductive health and rights, and leadership on global health security architecture.
We harness the power of science to translate the best evidence, innovation, and digital solutions.
But health for all is a political choice:
- we know nearly all maternal deaths are preventable, but every two minutes a woman dies during pregnancy or childbirth
- we know sexual and reproductive health and rights are central to every person’s health and well-being, but 270 million women have an unmet need for contraception
- we know universal health coverage is essential for healthier populations, but almost 2 billion people face catastrophic or impoverishing health spending.
WHO is proud to be strengthening our collaboration with IPU, recognizing the critical role parliaments play in legislation, government accountability, budgeting for health, and representing people’s needs.
As we move towards the UN High-Level Meeting on UHC this September, let us renew our shared vision: health for all, rich and poor, able and disabled, old and young, urban and rural, citizen and refugee. Everyone, everywhere.