Honourable Minister Frederic Valletoux,
Honourable Minister, Budi Gunadi Sadikin,
Honourable Minister, Akihisa Shiozaki,
Honourable Minister D. Salih Al Marri,
Honourable Minister Sabin Nsanzimana,
Your Excellency Ambassador Anne Claire Amprou,
Excellencies, Honourable Ministers, dear colleagues and friends,
Let me start by thanking France, Indonesia, Japan, Qatar and Rwanda and all members of the Group of Friends for your commitment to support the WHO Academy.
The Academy has been established to serve Member States as they tackle challenges in achieving the health related Sustainable Development Goals.
By improving how health professionals learn throughout their career, the Academy will catalyse capacity building at the local, national and regional levels, in line with Member States' priority needs.
With ever-evolving global health challenges, a new approach to learning is needed.
The Academy aims to lead the way by investing in innovative, qualitative, and globally accessible learning solutions for health professionals across the world.
And a well-trained health workforce is crucial to strenghtening health systems and achieving universal health coverage and our 14th General Programme of Work.
The Academy will be a vital asset for Member States, and a gamechanger in the way WHO supports countries in building capacity.
The Academy campus in Lyon will be inaugurated in December 2024.
I thank France and President Macron for their leadership in establishing the Academy.
This event will mark the start of a new phase, as the Academy continues to grow and expand.
The next five years will focus on stabilizing, positioning and ensuring sustainable funding for the Academy.
We have an ambitious goal. We want the Academy to become the global center for lifelong learning in health.
But WHO cannot achieve this alone. Realizing that vision will require partnerships with world class academic and health institutions, political support from Member States and adequate investment to sustain the Academy's expansion.
We seek the engagement of all countries, partners, and donors.
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This will contribute to the WHO Investment Round which we launched last night.
Thank you to France and Germany for co-hosting the investment round.
The success of the round will help drive the success of the Academy because the Academy is part of our core budget.
Only through collective action and investment in lifelong learning for all health and care workers can we truly make a difference.
We count on your engagement to promote the Academy in multilateral and regional forums and to strengthen the capacities of the health and care workforce globally.
Your support will enable the WHO Academy to drive lifelong learning in health as a global priority.
Your investment in the WHO Academy is an investment in equity, health, education, and technology.
But ultimately, it's an investment in people, and in a healthier, safer, fairer future.
I thank you.
