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WHO / LOWCOCK TEDROS COVID-19
STORY: WHO / LOWCOCK TEDROS COVID-19
TRT: 4:18
SOURCE: WHO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 17 JULY 2020, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
FILE - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, WHO emblem outside headquarters
17 JULY 2020, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
2. Wide shot, WHO officials at briefing
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“Although COVID-19 has rightly captured the world’s attention, we must also remember it is not the only crisis the world is facing. Many countries, especially in Africa and the Middle East, are still reeling from years of conflict and other humanitarian crises. COVID-19 threatens to exacerbate many of these crises. The pandemic, and the restrictions put in place to suppress it, are taking a heavy toll on 220 million people in protracted emergencies.”
4. Wide shot, WHO officials at briefing
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“While it is too early to assess the full impact of so-called lockdowns and other containment measures, up to 132 million more people may go hungry in 2020, in addition to the 690 million who went hungry last year. Deep budget cuts to education and rising poverty caused by the pandemic could force at least 9.7 million children out of school forever by the end of this year, with millions more falling behind in learning.”
6. Wide shot, WHO officials at briefing
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Lowcock, Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
“I want to talk a bit about our estimates of the cost of doing nothing in these poor and fragile countries; because COVID-19 and the associated global recession are about to wreak havoc in fragile and low-income countries. And my message today, especially in the run up to the G20 finance ministers meeting, to them and to other rich nations, is that unless we act now, we should be prepared for a series of human tragedies, more brutal and more destructive than any of the direct impacts of the virus itself.”
8. Wide shot, WHO officials at briefing
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Lowcock, Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
“Inaction, as Tedros and others have been stating very clearly in recent months, will leave the virus free to circle the globe. It will undo decades of development, and it will create a generation's worth of tragic and exportable problems. But it doesn't have to be like that. This can be fixed with money and leadership from the world's wealthier nations and some fresh thinking. We estimate that the cost of protecting the poorest 10 percent of the global population from the worst effects of the pandemic and the global recession is about 90 billion USD. That's less than one percent of the stimulus package wealthy countries have put in place to protect the global economy.”
10. Wide shot, WHO officials at briefing
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Lowcock, Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
“The plan obviously is only as effective as the funding it receives. So far, we've raised 1.7 billion USD. I appreciate every country is being hurt by this pandemic but I do have to say that the response of wealthy nations, who have rightly thrown out the fiscal and monetary rule books to protect their people and their economies; their response has been grossly inadequate when it comes to helping the poorer countries. And that is dangerously shortsighted.”
12. Wide shot, WHO officials at briefing
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Michael Ryan, Executive Director, Health Emergencies Programme, World Health Organization (WHO):
“When we look at countries in humanitarian context and those countries deeply fragile and vulnerable through the processes that Mark refers to, historically over the last number of years, 70 percent of the high impact epidemics around the world occur in those settings. And that's where we end up operating a lot of the time. Like we have teams in Congo today, teams in the field for one and a half years, all over the world. So, in that sense, the health security of the world is threatened by the fact that there are not strong surveillance and response systems in place in these fragile settings. That's a threat to the people in those areas. And that's a threat to the world.”
14. Wide shot, WHO officials at briefing
WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus said the COVID-19 and related restrictions are “taking a heavy toll on 220 million people in protracted emergencies.”
Speaking at a press conference in Geneva today (17 Jul), Tedros said, “Although COVID-19 has rightly captured the world’s attention, we must also remember it is not the only crisis the world is facing. Many countries, especially in Africa and the Middle East, are still reeling from years of conflict and other humanitarian crises. COVID-19 threatens to exacerbate many of these crises.”
The WHO chief noted that while it was too early to assess the full impact of lockdowns and other containment measures, “up to 132 million more people may go hungry in 2020, in addition to the 690 million who went hungry last year.” He said deep budget cuts to education and rising poverty caused by the pandemic could force at least 9.7 million children out of school forever by the end of this year, “with millions more falling behind in learning.”
Joining the press conference via teleconference, UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock said COVID-19 “and the associated global recession are about to wreak havoc in fragile and low-income countries.” In a message to the G20 finance ministers and to other rich nations, he said, “Unless we act now, we should be prepared for a series of human tragedies, more brutal and more destructive than any of the direct impacts of the virus itself."
Lowcock said inaction would leave the virus free to circle the globe, undo decades of development, and “create a generation's worth of tragic and exportable problems.” He said this could be fixed with “money and leadership from the world's wealthier nations and some fresh thinking.” He added, “We estimate that the cost of protecting the poorest 10 percent of the global population from the worst effects of the pandemic and the global recession is about 90 billion USD. That's less than one percent of the stimulus package wealthy countries have put in place to protect the global economy."
The UN Emergency Relief Coordinator said the COVID-19 humanitarian response plan is “only as effective as the funding it receives.” He said, “So far, we've raised 1.7 billion USD. I appreciate every country is being hurt by this pandemic but I do have to say that the response of wealthy nations, who have rightly thrown out the fiscal and monetary rule books to protect their people and their economies; their response has been grossly inadequate when it comes to helping the poorer countries. And that is dangerously shortsighted."
Executive Director OF WHO’S Health Emergencies Programme Michael Ryan said over the past year, some 70 percent of the “high impact epidemics” around the world occurred in countries that are “deeply fragile and vulnerable.” He said the health security of the world is “threatened by the fact that there are not strong surveillance and response systems in place in these fragile settings. That's a threat to the people in those areas. And that's a threat to the world."
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