WHO Director-General Addresses High-Level Meeting on Ebola R&D

From crisis to sustainable development: lessons from the Ebola outbreak

who.int - May 10, 2015

. . . three changes will do the most to improve the world’s collective defence against the infectious disease threat.

First, invest in building resilient communities and well-performing health systems that integrate public health and primary health care. Ideally, health systems should aim for universal health coverage, so the poor are not left behind. This requires new thinking and a new approach to health development.

Second, develop the systems, capacities, and financing mechanisms needed to build surge capacity for responding to outbreaks and humanitarian emergencies.

Third, create incentives for R&D for new medical products for diseases that primarily affect the poor. A fair and just world should not let people die for what boils down to market failure and poverty.

These three things also fit well with the coming agenda for sustainable development that seeks to distribute the benefits of economic growth more evenly and respects our planet’s fragile resources.

From the health perspective, the greatest need is to have health systems in place that can withstand future shocks, whether these come from climate change or a runaway virus.

Doing so is not a luxury. It is the best insurance policy for the future and the best way to cement the tremendous gains in health made since the start of this century.

http://www.who.int/dg/speeches/2015/ebola-lessons-lecture/en/

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WHO Director-General Addresses High-Level Meeting on Ebola R&D

who.int - May 11, 2015

. . . The job now is to harness the lessons from Ebola to create a new R&D framework that can be used for any epidemic-prone disease, in any infectious disease emergency.

This is what you will be discussing over the next two days: an R&D preparedness plan with clear rules, well-defined platforms for information sharing, and agreed procedures to expedite development and clinical trials.

In emergencies, coordination is the first essential element. Timely and transparent information sharing is the second.

The more we know about what other partners have discovered or achieved, the better equipped we will be to make informed decisions and take the right next steps with the greatest possible speed.

http://www.who.int/dg/speeches/2015/ebola-research-remark/en/#