Chancellor Khampepe
Vice-Chancellor Kupe,
Dean De Jager,
To all dignitaries, graduates, students, faculty, and staff of the University of Pretoria, dear colleagues and friends,
Including my family, my wife Kidist, Brook and Blen who are with me today.
Let us begin by remembering the words of Nelson Mandela: "Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world."
As some of you are aware, Nelson Mandela - Madiba - was awarded an honorary law doctorate here at the University of Pretoria in 1997 for his commitment to equality, justice, and reconciliation.
And in fact, the first time he came to speak at the University, six years earlier, he was shouted down by an angry crowd. But as we all know, he persisted, and for that, we all triumphed.
The lesson there is twofold: never stop trying, because things can change for the better.
And so today, I accept this honorary doctorate with both great pride and humility.
I am grateful to be an adopted member of the University of Pretoria family.
The university is known for its stand-out work in disciplines including engineering, economics, business, microbiology, and plant and animal science, including important work on malaria.
Please accept my warm congratulations to all the graduates today, and to your families, and your mentors.
As graduates, your journey does not end today, it is just beginning. You have gone from being a student in school to a student in life.
I was asked to talk a bit about my own journey, so I thought I would do that by focusing on five themes:
First, anything is possible,
Second, challenges come with opportunities,
Third, continuous improvement is important, change as a constant,
and Fourth, humanity first.
The fifth one I will tell you when I end the speech. It's a surprise.
First, anything is possible.
As a child in Ethiopia, I saw first-hand the effects of violence, poverty, and disease in my community. I belonged to a poor family.
And yet today, here I am, Director-General of the World Health Organization. It's certainly not something I ever expected would happen. Because when I was a child, my mother's only prayer was for me to survive, just a day.
So what is the lesson there? A better future is possible.
And in the meantime, work hard, because you never know when you may face a great challenge, and when your chance to shine will come.
The second point, then, is challenges come with opportunities.
When I took on this role as Director-General of WHO, I did not know that we would soon face an Ebola outbreak in North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
This was a place of unrest and violent conflict. It took two years to contain, working long and hard with our partners in government and in the communities. In the process, we lost two of our colleagues, murdered in cold blood by armed groups who operate in North Kivu.
Ebola was followed by the COVID-19 pandemic. This was a challenge on many levels. An unprecedented challenge.
This was a new disease, which we had never seen before.
And it was accompanied by a second pandemic, a pandemic of misinformation and falsehoods.
WHO also faced significant pressure due to geopolitical confrontations, nationalism, and the politicization of COVID.
The only way to deal with such extraordinary difficulties is to stay focused on your work - following the science and the evidence - and to keep people at the centre of our efforts. And that's what my colleagues and I did throughout the pandemic.
So when the challenges come, as they always do, you must be prepared, and you must be ready. As I often say, the time to fix the roof is before the rains come.
Which brings me to number three, continuous improvement, change as a constant. That means learning lessons by assessing where we've been and where we are going.
WHO was founded 75 years ago, in the aftermath of the Second World War, in 1948.
Over three-quarters of a century, WHO and our partners in countries and communities had many accomplishments: eradicating smallpox; pushing polio to the brink; global curbs on smoking and trans-fats; increasing life expectancy.
We've played key roles in the fight against diseases like HIV, TB, Ebola, malaria, measles, you name it. We monitor, coordinate, and train; we advise more than 150 countries on strengthening their health systems.
At the core of our work is the belief that global cooperation and solidarity can help us to reach the highest possible level of health for all people, everywhere, as WHO's constitution says.
Throughout, our focus is on continuous improvement. These transformational changes began even before the pandemic.
As Director-General, my priority is to make sure that WHO is ready to take on the challenges of the next five years.
This includes strengthening our health emergencies, science, and data programmes; improving the global health architecture; and focusing on country impact.
We are also working to nurture future young global health leaders from Africa and around the world.
It is critical that now, with the recent challenges of COVID-19, we learn its lessons.
Profound inequities badly undermined our work to contain the pandemic, especially in the unequal global distribution of life-saving tools like vaccines, tests and treatments.
It was a clear demonstration that the global system is in need of repair, and rethinking.
Because Health for All means all: rich and poor, North and South, East and West.
To address these inequities, WHO and partners established the mRNA technology transfer hub here in South Africa. Local production is critical to preparing for the next pandemic or epidemic.
Fifteen countries from Latin America, from Africa itself, from Asia and Europe are collaborating with South Africa to ensure local production and address the equity issue.
I visited the Hub yesterday. The progress is remarkable, with huge promise for increasing access to vaccines for COVID-19, HIV, tuberculosis, and other diseases.
WHO is also committed to supporting the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the African Medicines Agency.
Because as we look to the future, Africa should never again be the last in line to receive vaccines, tests and treatments and other lifesaving tools.
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So, whenever you have challenges, take it as an opportunity to find improvements.
That is what I try to do every day. And I remember often where I came from and how I got here.
It is truly a privilege and an honour to work at WHO.
The fourth theme is humanity first.
Whether you go on to work in the public or private sectors, please, always put humanity first.
These pandemic years clearly demonstrated that nationalism and selfishness hinder progress, they do not help. When I say nationalism, I mean narrow nationalism. Of course enlightened nationalism can be ok.
It is also clear that health must be at the centre of all we do. As you've all seen, health crises can affect societies, economies, and stability. When health fails, everything can fail.
Make no mistake dear graduates, my colleagues and friends: you are graduating at a very difficult time in the world, with the climate crisis, profound inequality, wars, and injustice.
We must put health and humanity first, with solidarity and global cooperation.
Because the world does not get better unless we work together to make it better.
So, throughout your careers, keep listening, and learning, and trying. Trying everything. Because, as Madiba taught us, we can all make a difference.
And that takes me to the fifth theme. This is about my daughter and my son, who are graduating today. Pave the way. That's a song I selected for you. Brenda Fassie.
Thank you so much for this great honour. When I take this honour, I take it as recognition for WHO. Proud to be WHO. Thank you so much.
