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WHO / TEDROS PRESSER
STORY: WHO / TEDROS PRESSER
TRT: 05:37
SOURCE: WHO
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT WHO ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 21 FEBRUARY 2024, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / FILE
FILE - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, press room
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“This week, Member States from around the world are meeting in Geneva to discuss the new pandemic accord. This agreement is being developed, shaped and decided by the 194 Member States that make up the World Health Organization. Building on the lessons of COVID-19, I broadly see three key benefits: The agreement would help countries drive a more equitable response, it will boost collectively health safeguarding and it will enhance cooperation.”
3. Wide shot, press room
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“And when the next pandemic does happen, it takes a whole of society approach to tackle it.
That’s why Member States are designing an agreement to support countries to mobilize all sectors in a coherent response, including across government, multilateral agencies, the private sector and civil society. There’s a rich discussion going on about the agreement, which will happen for several more months to come. There is progress and I maintain confidence that by the World Health Assembly in May this year, countries will have agreed on a new pandemic agreement that sets out a better set of parameters than we had during COVID-19. Ultimately, it will save lives and livelihoods while protecting national security and sovereignty.”
5. Wide shot, press room
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“The health and humanitarian situation in Gaza is inhumane and continues to deteriorate.
Over the past three days WHO and partners have carried out several emergency missions to Nasser Medical Complex in Southern Gaza. Around 130 sick and injured patients and at least 15 doctors and nurses remain in the hospital. With the intensive care unit no longer working, WHO has helped move patients – many of whom cannot even walk.”
7. Wide shot, press room
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“On a broader level, Gaza has become a death zone. Much of the territory has been destroyed, more than 29,000 people are dead, many more are missing presumed dead and many, many more are injured.”
9. Wide shot, press room
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“Severe malnutrition has shot up dramatically since the war started, from under 1 percent to more than 15 percent in some areas, putting more lives at risk. This figure will rise the longer the war goes on and supplies are interrupted. We note with apprehension that the World Food Programme cannot get into northern Gaza with supplies.”
11. Wide shot, press room
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“We need a ceasefire now! We need hostages to be released, we need the bombs to stop dropping and we need unfettered humanitarian access. Humanity must prevail.”
13. Wide shot, press room
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Steven Solomon, Principal Legal Officer, World Health Organization (WHO):
“Humanitarian law is very clear. Healthcare workers and healthcare facilities are off limits. They must not be attacked. They must not be used for military purposes. They must be protected at all times.”
15. Wide shot, press room
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Steven Solomon, Principal Legal Officer, World Health Organization (WHO):
“The protection of healthcare also includes the prohibition against combatants using health facilities for military purposes. But IHL is also clear that even if healthcare facilities are being used for military purposes, there are stringent conditions which apply to taking action against them. Including a duty to warn and to wait after warning and even then, disproportionate attacks are strictly prohibited.”
17. Wide shot, press room
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Michael Ryan, Executive Director, Health Emergencies Programme, World Health Organization (WHO):
“Even war has rules and what we are seeing increasingly, and we were discussing before we came online today the number of situations in which the basic rights of people, civilians in war, are not being respected - civilians have a right in war not to be attacked. They have a right not to be denied healthcare. That have a right not to be raped. They have a right not to be denied food. They have a right not to be besieged. They have a right to free movement. They have a right to congregate. They have all these rights. These are rights we all have. These are inalienable rights and in conflict after conflict after conflict, they are being ignored and to a point weaponized.”
19. Wide shot, press room
20. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“Sudan, while not receiving much international media attention, is witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe. More than 10 months of conflict have had a deadly impact on the lives, livelihoods and health of the people. Over 6 million people have been displaced internally and nearly 2 million people have gone to neighbouring countries. This is the largest displacement of people in the world. Half the population needs humanitarian aid. But partners cannot reach most of them. Already, more than 14,000 people have been killed, and if the world turns a blind eye to the suffering in Sudan, many more will die.”
21. Wide shot, press room
22. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“WHO is scaling up on-the-ground efforts to deliver health emergency response, respond to disease outbreaks, sustain disease surveillance and provide life-saving medical supplies and equipment.”
23. Wide shot, press room
24. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“After years of progress against cholera, the deadly disease has come roaring back in 30 countries spurred on by conflict, poverty, the climate crisis and global socio-economic inequality.
Along with Sudan, the countries with the most concerning outbreaks right now include Ethiopia, Haiti, Zimbabwe and Zambia.”
25. Wide shot, press room
26. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“In October 2022, the International Coordinating Group that manages the emergency stockpile of cholera vaccines suspended the standard two-dose vaccination regimen in favour of a single dose only in response to outbreaks, to stretch supplies. Despite this extreme measure, at the start of this year, the stockpile was empty. Zero doses are left, while 15 countries are reporting active outbreaks.”
26. Wide shot, press room
27. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“We need the world to wake up to the rapidly growing threat represented by cholera.”
28. Wide shot, press room
29. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“For immediate needs, WHO has released over 16 million US dollars from the WHO Contingency Fund for Emergencies. But to tackle cholera outbreaks around the world, WHO has issued an appeal for 50 million US dollars for 2024.”
30. Wide shot, press room
31. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Michael Ryan, Executive Director, Health Emergencies Programme, World Health Organization (WHO):
“When we talk about emergencies or disasters, we assume we are going to be dealing injured people and people understand that. We assume that there may be epidemic risk because people understand that. But what is often forgotten is that displaced or refugee populations or populations who have lost access to their homes and medicine or lost access to their healthcare also lose access to care for long-term diseases like diabetes, hypertension. People with disabilities, people with mental health condition.”
32. Wide shot, press room
33. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Michael Ryan, Executive Director, Health Emergencies Programme, World Health Organization (WHO):
“When a community loses a primary healthcare centre, when a community loses its hospital, when it loses its immunization programme, there's more than just a loss of health, there is a loss of hope. There’s a loss of community confidence and that often forces people to move and migrate and to move away from where they are, where they cannot get services to somewhere else, which then deepens the problem because the community that ends up hosting them is now providing care for more than the number of people they can care for. So, it triggers a whole series of negative things.”
34. Wide shot, press room
35. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Michael Ryan, Executive Director, Health Emergencies Programme, World Health Organization (WHO):
“And we need health systems which are capable of both responding to the acute emergency and being resilient and being able to have continuity of services for all of the other diseases. So that is what we mean when we talk about noncommunicable diseases and emergencies. We can’t forget them, and we must provide for them.”
36. Wide shot, press room
World Health Organization (WHO) Chief Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus today (21 Feb) said a new pandemic accord being negotiated in Geneva will “help countries drive a more equitable response” and will “boost collectively health safeguarding,” as well as “enhance cooperation.”
Briefing reporters in Geneva, Tedros said “when the next pandemic does happen, it takes a whole of society approach to tackle it.
That’s why Member States are designing an agreement to support countries to mobilize all sectors in a coherent response, including across government, multilateral agencies, the private sector and civil society.”
He expressed confidence that “by the World Health Assembly in May this year, countries will have agreed on a new pandemic agreement that sets out a better set of parameters than we had during COVID-19.”
The WHO Director-General said, “the health and humanitarian situation in Gaza is inhumane and continues to deteriorate.”
He said, “over the past three days WHO and partners have carried out several emergency missions to Nasser Medical Complex in Southern Gaza. Around 130 sick and injured patients and at least 15 doctors and nurses remain in the hospital. With the intensive care unit no longer working, WHO has helped move patients – many of whom cannot even walk.”
On a broader level, Tedros continued, “Gaza has become a death zone.”
He said, “severe malnutrition has shot up dramatically since the war started, from under 1 percent to more than 15 percent in some areas, putting more lives at risk. This figure will rise the longer the war goes on and supplies are interrupted. We note with apprehension that the World Food Programme cannot get into northern Gaza with supplies.
Tedros said, “we need a ceasefire now! We need hostages to be released, we need the bombs to stop dropping and we need unfettered humanitarian access. Humanity must prevail.”
Talking to reporters via video, WHO’s Principal Legal Officer, Steven Solomon said, “humanitarian law is very clear. Healthcare workers and healthcare facilities are off limits. They must not be attacked. They must not be used for military purposes. They must be protected at all times.”
Solomon said, “the protection of healthcare also includes the prohibition against combatants using health facilities for military purposes. But IHL is also clear that even if healthcare facilities are being used for military purposes, there are stringent conditions which apply to taking action against them. Including a duty to warn and to wait after warning and even then, disproportionate attacks are strictly prohibited.”
WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme Executive Director, Dr Michael Ryan, said, “even war has rules and what we are seeing increasingly and we were discussing before we came online today the number of situations in which the basic rights of people, civilians in war, are not being respected - civilians have a right in war not to be attacked. They have a right not to be denied healthcare. That have a right not to be raped. They have a right not to be denied food. They have a right not to be besieged. They have a right to free movement. They have a right to congregate. They have all these rights. These are rights we all have. These are inalienable rights and in conflict after conflict after conflict, they are being ignored and to a point weaponized.”
Turning to Sudan, Tedros said, “Sudan, while not receiving much international media attention, is witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe. More than 10 months of conflict have had a deadly impact on the lives, livelihoods and health of the people. Over 6 million people have been displaced internally and nearly 2 million people have gone to neighbouring countries. This is the largest displacement of people in the world. Half the population needs humanitarian aid. But partners cannot reach most of them. Already, more than 14,000 people have been killed, and if the world turns a blind eye to the suffering in Sudan, many more will die.”
WHO, he said, “is scaling up on-the-ground efforts to deliver health emergency response, respond to disease outbreaks, sustain disease surveillance and provide life-saving medical supplies and equipment.”
The WHO Chief said, “after years of progress against cholera, the deadly disease has come roaring back in 30 countries spurred on by conflict, poverty, the climate crisis and global socio-economic inequality.
Along with Sudan, the countries with the most concerning outbreaks right now include Ethiopia, Haiti, Zimbabwe and Zambia.”
He said, “in October 2022, the International Coordinating Group that manages the emergency stockpile of cholera vaccines suspended the standard two-dose vaccination regimen in favour of a single dose only in response to outbreaks, to stretch supplies. Despite this extreme measure, at the start of this year, the stockpile was empty. Zero doses are left, while 15 countries are reporting active outbreaks.”
Tedros said, “we need the world to wake up to the rapidly growing threat represented by cholera.”
He noted that WHO has released over 16 million US dollars from the WHO Contingency Fund for Emergencies,” but added that “to tackle cholera outbreaks around the world, WHO has issued an appeal for 50 million US dollars for 2024.”
Ryan said, “when we talk about emergencies or disasters, we assume we are going to be dealing injured people and people understand that. We assume that there may be epidemic risk because people understand that. But what is often forgotten is that displaced or refugee populations or populations who have lost access to their homes and medicine or lost access to their healthcare also lose access to care for long-term diseases like diabetes, hypertension. People with disabilities, people with mental health conditions.
He said, “when a community loses a primary healthcare centre, when a community loses its hospital, when it loses its immunization programme, there's more than just a loss of health, there is a loss of hope. There’s a loss of community confidence and that often forces people to move and migrate and to move away from where they are, where they cannot get services to somewhere else, which then deepens the problem because the community that ends up hosting them is now providing care for more than the number of people they can care for. So, it triggers a whole series of negative things.”
Ryan said, “and we need health systems which are capable of both responding to the acute emergency and being resilient and being able to have continuity of services for all of the other diseases. So that is what we mean when we talk about noncommunicable diseases and emergencies. We can’t forget them, and we must provide for them.”
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