*Errors and omissions excepted (E&OE)
DG Dr Tedros; Your Excellency, Minister Ong Ye Kung; excellencies; distinguished representatives from Member States; colleagues; ladies and gentlemen – I am delighted to participate in today’s launch of the WHO Framework for Strengthening Health Emergency Preparedness in Cities and Urban Settings, and sorry I cannot join you in real-time.
Being in a pandemic means that the virus will potentially reach every corner of every country around the world. Every city and subnational area needs to prepare and to have the capacity to respond. Preparing cities for health emergencies is therefore of critical importance to our broader pandemic preparedness and response efforts.
Cities are closely connected not only with other parts of their own countries, but also with other places in the world. As we have seen with COVID-19 (and so many other viruses before it), pathogens do not respect borders – which is why infectious diseases can spread so quickly. Given their important role, cities’ pandemic preparedness and response efforts can make a contribution to health security beyond their own borders. National responses are also most effective when they are well synchronised with city and subnational efforts.
The Framework being launched today provides valuable guidance on the priority themes for subnational and national authorities to consider in developing policies to strengthen urban health emergency preparedness.
After the SARS outbreak in 2003, together with South-East Asia Region, the WHO Western Pacific Region developed an action framework called the Asia Pacific Strategy for Emerging Diseases and Public Health Emergencies, or APSED, which is now in its third iteration.
For almost two decades, APSED has been used as an implementation plan for the International Health Regulations, and in doing so, a guide for our Region’s longstanding investments in preparedness – building on lessons from the SARS epidemic, the H1N1 influenza pandemic and other real-life events.
I am very pleased to see that the Framework is closely aligned with APSED, and that we will be able to implement this new Framework using APSED.
I am also delighted to see Singapore taking the lead in championing urban health emergency preparedness through support for the development of these guidelines – this will help to advance APSED implementation in our Region, and I’m sure will be of great value to other cities and countries around the world.
The 150th session of the Executive Board will meet in two weeks, and will discuss a number of important topics – including the interim report of the working group on strengthening WHO preparedness and response to health emergencies.
This working group was established out of a recognition that preparedness must be a priority at the subnational, national, regional and global levels – and that WHO has a central role to play in supporting these efforts. I would like to express my sincere thanks to Singapore for their leadership as our Region’s representative on this working group.
The course the COVID-19 pandemic takes next depends on our individual and collective actions in the days, weeks and months ahead. We must also keep in mind that the next pandemic may not be far away. How we respond will depend on what lessons we identify from COVID-19, and how we build on these to improve preparedness – including in urban areas – for the future.
I look forward to continuing to work with all of you in these areas, towards strengthening regional and global health security.
Thank you very much.