Geneva: The Commonwealth Secretariat and the World Health Organization (WHO) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) committing to strengthening their collaboration on a broad range of public health issues.
The MoU was signed on Monday at a ceremony held at the WHO Headquarters in Geneva by the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Patricia Scotland, and the WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
In signing the document, the two parties agreed to work together and strengthen the exchange of information on seven priority areas: Promoting universal health coverage and primary healthcare; Strengthening global health security; Promoting healthy environments; Promoting the health of vulnerable groups; Transforming lifelong learning for health impact; Building a data partnership; And creating space for innovation and exchange of knowledge.
The signing of the MoU takes place in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, which continues to pose a significant threat to public health, especially with the spread of new highly contagious variants.
"Partnership is essential in ensuring all people can achieve the highest level of health possible. The new agreement between the World Health Organization and the Commonwealth Secretariat reflects the importance of collaboration to promote and protect people’s wellbeing. WHO’s commitment to supporting all Commonwealth countries will be strengthened through our commitment to promoting universal health coverage, global health security and ensuring vulnerable groups receive all support needed to lead healthy lives," Dr Tedros said.
As of January 31, over 77 million COVID-19 cases have been reported in the Commonwealth, with hundreds of thousands of new cases being reported daily. Furthermore, 42% of Commonwealth citizens are fully vaccinated.
The percentage of fully vaccinated people ranges from 23% in African countries of the Commonwealth to 43% in the WHO Region of the Americas and 56% in the WHO Western Pacific Region.
"Equitable access to vaccines is the world’s most pressing political, economic, social and moral priority. Without effective and prompt action on vaccines, we face a never-ending global health crisis that will reduce all of our wealth and security. And the most effective way for the world to tackle this and other challenges that we face, whether COVID-19, climate change or universal health coverage, is by working through multilateral institutions such as the Commonwealth Secretariat and the World Health Organization," Scotland said.
"The Memorandum of Understanding we have signed today demonstrates that both organisations share a vision for cooperation and action on these challenges, and a commitment to creating the conditions for people across the Commonwealth to flourish. It is a pleasure to work with colleagues from the World Health Organization and I hope this agreement will enable us to work more effectively and productively far into the future," she added.
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