Your Excellency Csaba Kõrösi, President of the General Assembly,
Your Excellency Inoyatov Shodievich, Minister of Health of Uzbekistan,
Your Excellency Bakhtiyor Ibragimov, Permanent Representative of Uzbekistan to the UN,
Your Excellency Krzysztof Szczerski, Permanent Representative of Poland to the UN,
Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,
Good morning, and I apologise that I cannot be with you in person.
I thank Your Excellency the President of the General Assembly, and Uzbekistan and Poland, for hosting this important discussion as we prepare for the High-Level Meeting on TB.
On Friday, I declared an end to COVID-19 as a global health emergency.
It was a significant moment. For more than three years, COVID-19 has turned our world upside down.
In addition to the millions of deaths caused by the virus itself, COVID-19 has severely disrupted health systems, depriving millions of essential health services, including for TB.
Conflicts across Europe, Africa and the Middle East have made lifesaving services even harder to access for people living with TB.
These challenges have been a setback in the fight against TB, reversing some of the significant gains we have made over the past 20 years in expanding access to prevention, testing and treatment for more than 70 million people.
This year's High-Level Meeting can - and must - be a turning point in reinvigorating progress in the fight against TB.
We need to make the tools we have available to more people. But we also need new tools, including new TB vaccines.
That's why WHO has proposed establishing a TB Vaccine Accelerator Council, to facilitate the development, licensing and use of new TB vaccines.
We are asking leaders to commit to concrete targets over the next five years:
To see 90% of people with TB reached with treatment and preventive treatment;
To see 100% of people with TB diagnosed with a WHO recommended test;
To see at least one new TB vaccine approved;
To adequately fund the TB response and TB research and innovation;
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And to see all countries include TB services in benefit packages as part of their journey towards universal health coverage.
Meeting these targets is crucial for saving lives.
But it's clear that we cannot truly end TB unless we address its drivers: poverty, malnutrition, diabetes, HIV, tobacco and alcohol use, poor living and working conditions, stigma and discrimination, through multisectoral action.
As always, strong political leadership is vital, with support from WHO and the many other partners represented today.
Civil society and affected communities also play a key role, which is why WHO established the Civil Society Taskforce on TB five years ago.
The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated how we can come together to overcome global health threats.
Our task is not easy. TB is an ancient and wily foe. But nor is our task impossible.
Together we can ensure political commitment is translated into concrete action and investment.
Together, we can End TB.
Thank you, and I look forward to seeing you all in New York in September.
