Efforts to enhance global health security in a future health crisis will only be successful if the role of the World Health Organization (WHO) is also strengthened, said today the director general of the Center, Ananom Gebregesous.
Speaking via video link at a meeting of the G20 finance ministers in the Indonesian capital, Tentros responded to proposals to set up a separate global health fund to distribute emergency funds, vaccines and other medicines.
“It is clear that at the heart of this architecture, people need a strong and sustainable WHO… with its unique mandate, unique know-how and unique global legitimacy,” Tentros told a panel discussion.
“Any efforts to strengthen governance, systems and funding for global health security can only succeed if they also improve the role of the WHO,” he said.
During the debate, Italian Health Minister Roberto Speranza told the panel that “WHO should remain at the heart of the global health architecture”, but added that “we need to work even harder to create a stronger health architecture”. .
Indonesia is hosting the G20 summit this year, and the country’s health minister last week questioned whether the WHO would be able to raise funds for a global health fund to be called in to provide emergency aid, such as funds, vaccines and diagnostic tools, in any future pandemic.
Under the current system, he told foreign reporters that countries are “essentially relying on their own means” to secure vaccines and vital medical supplies.
The United States, the WHO’s main donor, is also pushing for a separate, directly donor-funded fund to fund health prevention and control.
Strengthening the global health architecture is one of Indonesia’s top priorities as part of its G20 presidency, according to President Joko Widodo and Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin.
Source: Capital
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