Thursday, 24 February 2022  

WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the COVID-19 Global Research & Innovation Forum, 24 February

Dear colleagues and friends,

Just over two years ago, as the world was still coming to grips with the spread of this novel coronavirus, WHO did what only WHO can do – we brought scientists together from around the world to identify the most urgent priorities for research and development.

It’s incredible to think that at the time, there were just over 1,000 reported deaths in China, and only one reported death in the rest of the world.

24 months later, and almost 6 million people have lost their lives.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a global health crisis unlike any that any of us have experienced in our lifetimes.

It is teaching us all many painful lessons.

The first is that pandemic preparedness is a constant, long-term investment.

As you know, there have been many reviews, reports and recommendations about the global response.

And there are many ongoing discussions about how to make the world safer. Today, the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body is holding its first meeting here at WHO to discuss a new global accord on pandemic preparedness and response.

But underlying all of them is the reality that we cannot make the world safer without investments in science, research and innovation.

The second lesson is that by embedding research at the heart of the pandemic response, we can achieve two goals: to help us end the acute phase of the current pandemic, and to protect us from the epidemics and pandemics of the future.

It is vital that our research efforts now focus not only on the current variants of concern, but also to understand how the virus is evolving, so that our research efforts can help us with whatever may come.

And the third lesson is that even as we invest in research now, we must also be making longer-term investments in research capabilities around the globe, to prepare us for future viruses and other health threats.

It is critical that we come together to support and develop the capacity of research institutions and researchers in low- and middle-income countries.

WHO and partners have maintained a network of global researchers and experts that have produced a Global Research Roadmap to focus research efforts on COVID-19, debate research priorities, develop methods and critically appraise emerging evidence.

This effort involves hundreds of virtual scientific consultations with thousands of scientists around the world.

These global research efforts have filled in many of the key knowledge gaps around COVID-19 identified in the roadmap, including the epidemiological behaviour of the virus, supporting the development of safe and effective vaccines in record time, and evaluating potential therapeutics.

This rapid scale-up and coordination of research was facilitated by work over years by WHO’s Research and Development Blueprint for Epidemics, which was established after the West African Ebola epidemic to identify and stimulate research and development for high-risk pathogens.

Scaling up our collective efforts quickly during this pandemic was possible because we were already collaborating globally on shared priorities. This is the essence of collaborative foresight and collective preparedness that we need in future.

WHO’s global coordination and support for the world’s leading scientists and researchers from almost every country does not always grab the media headlines.

But it has been key in underpinning the important initiatives and breakthroughs that will be presented today.

These processes and platforms will be the foundation for the research response for future epidemics, pandemics and other global health emergencies.

Thank you all for your participation today, and for contributing your time and expertise to a healthier, safer, fairer future.

I thank you.

Media contact:
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