The WHO has a goal to provide health to everyone around the world. During this pandemic, they have put the health of the needy and the underprivileged. The created and updated programs to get the best tools to countries. They also recognized that everyone should be able and allowed to contribute. Listen to what Dr Tedros has to say about International Woman’s Day.
On the 30th of January last year, I declared a global health emergency over the spread of the novel coronavirus.
At the time, outside China there were less than 100 cases of COVID-19, and no deaths.
I wish to be very clear: a public health emergency of international concern is the highest level of alarm under international law.
Over the next days and weeks, we continued to sound that alarm loud and clear, and we continued giving countries the strategies, the guidance and the tools they needed to prepare for, prevent, detect and respond to the spread of this new virus.
On the 5th of February, we started our daily press conferences, informing the world about the risks this new virus posed and the steps that governments and individuals needed to take to stay safe.
We continued to warn that the world had a narrow window of opportunity to prepare for and prevent a potential pandemic.
One of the things we still need to understand is why some countries acted on those warnings, while others were slower to react.
In the following weeks, the number of affected countries and the number of cases globally grew rapidly, which led us to describe COVID-19 as a pandemic on the 11th of March last year.
But we must be clear that that was not the moment at which we sounded the highest level of alarm. That moment was on the 30th of January.
Right now, WHO’s focus is on supporting all countries to end the pandemic, including with vaccines and the public health measures that have been the bedrock of the response for 15 months.
We have come so far, we have suffered so much, and we have lost so many. We cannot – we must not – squander the progress we have made.
We have the tools to control the pandemic, but we can only do it if we use them consistently and equitably.
Science, solutions and solidarity remain our guide. There are no short cuts.
===
As you know, today is International Women’s Day.
In many ways, women have suffered disproportionately from the pandemic.
We have seen appalling increases in violence against women, and reduced access to services for sexual and reproductive health.
In relative terms, employment losses have been higher for women than for men.
Women have also borne an additional and disproportionate burden of care for children and older people.
But women have also been at the forefront of the response.
About 70% of all health workers globally are women, and they have played a key role in delivering care and saving lives.
But although they make up the majority of the global health workforce, women only hold 25% of leadership roles in health.
That’s why in February, WHO launched the Gender Equal Health and Care Workforce Initiative, to increase the proportion of women in leadership in health and care;
To promote equal pay;
To protect women in health and care from sexual harassment and violence at work;
And to ensure safe and decent working conditions for women health and care workers, including access to personal protective equipment and vaccines against COVID-19.
To talk about more about the initiative, today I’m delighted to welcome Dr Roopa Dhatt, the Executive Director of Women in Global Health.
- On the 30th of January last year, I declared a global health emergency over the spread of the novel coronavirus. At the time, outside China there were less than 100 cases of COVID-19, and no deaths. I wish to be very clear: a public health emergency of international concern is the highest level of alarm under international law.
- Today is International Women’s Day. In many ways, women have suffered disproportionately from the pandemic. But women have also been at the forefront of the response. That’s why in February, WHO launched the Gender Equal Health and Care Workforce Initiative, to increase the proportion of women in leadership in health and care.
- To mark International Women’s Day, WHO is today launching a new Global Breast Cancer Initiative, to reduce mortality from breast cancer by 2.5% every year until 2040, saving 2.5 million lives.
Blog and Archive
