Thank you Ambassador Omar Zniber and Ambassador Henri Eli Monceau,
Your Excellencies, dear Ambassadors.
It is a great pleasure to welcome you to WHO once again.
I thank the International Organisation of the Francophonie and the Group of Francophone Ambassadors for their continued commitment to this exchange, and for making it possible by covering the costs of interpretation.
That gesture reflects the spirit of partnership that defines our relationship.
The Francophone community brings together 87 states and governments, spanning every region of the world.
Together, you represent well over one third of WHO Member States.
As you know, the past year has been a difficult one for global health, as his excellency has said.
Sudden and severe cuts to aid have disrupted health systems and services in many countries, including many countries represented in this room.
WHO has been supporting these countries to sustain essential health services, while transitioning away from aid dependency towards sustainable self-reliance and sovereignty.
At the same time, WHO has itself been affected, and unfortunately we have had to say goodbye to a large number of colleagues.
Although the past year has been difficult for WHO, it is a risk we foresaw, and that with the support of Member States, that we have taken several steps to address.
When we started the WHO Transformation almost nine years ago, we identified WHO’s over-reliance on a handful of traditional donors as a major risk, exposing us to shocks like the one we faced last year, and compromising our independence.
Based on our proposal in 2022, Member States approved a plan to progressively increase assessed contributions from 14% of the base budget to 50%.
Member States have now approved the first two increases, which were May 2023 and May of last year, and the next three increases are scheduled for 2027, 2029, and 2031.
I thank Francophone Member States for your support and contribution, and we seek your commitment to ensuring the next three increases in assessed contributions.
This is a long-term strategic solution to protect WHO against shocks like the one we had last year and also ensure its independence.
The first two increases helped to insulate us somewhat against that shock. Without them, the impact would have been far worse. But of course, they could not insulate us fully.
Nevertheless, we have seen this shock as an opportunity to prioritize and align.