Geneva, 06th June 2018 – The WHO Director General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, joined the Gavi Board meeting as a special guest, and spoke to the board constituencies about universal health coverage.
Dr. Tedros thanked Gavi for the immediate response and support for Ebola vaccination in DRC. He emphasized that lessons learned in the context of the recent outbreak suggest that to better serve the world’s health we need to increase the risks we are prepared to take and give-up on entitlements, to be there where we are needed to save lives. “We are still on full Ebola response mode. We have deployed 164 experts to support the efforts, and (…) I will also be in the field in DRC next week.”[[https://twitter.com/DrTedros]]
He encouraged governments, civil society organizations, private donors, industry and communities to embrace partnerships: “Partnerships will help us to move forward” said Dr. Tedros at his speech at the Board dinner. He reminded us that to achieve our common goal of health for all, while international aid and investments are complementary resources, the most important [resources] are our own resources: our knowledge, our skills, our experience, and for countries are their own people, their own health services, their own industry and their communities.
Gavi’s CEO, Seth Berkley, thanked him for his hands-on leadership and for joining the Gavi board meeting, adding that WHO is an essential Gavi partner in helping vaccines work globally.[[https://twitter.com/GaviSeth/status/1004813066725445632]]
