[Trusteeship Council Chamber]
Csaba Kőrösi (interview): “While the darkest days have passed. The questions just continue to linger. When will the next pandemic break out? Where and how will it hit? Will it hit humanity? What can we do to prevent it? And how should we ensure that it causes the least possible damage to our societies?”
“We must address the serious shortcomings in our national, regional and global efforts to prevent another pandemic from taking a similar toll.”
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (interview): “COVID 19 may be over as a global health emergency, but the threat of another pathogen emerging with even deadlier potential remains.”
“Member states are negotiating a new pandemic accord, a generational commitment that we will not go back to the old cycle of panic and neglect that left our world vulnerable, but move forward with a shared commitment to meet shared threats with a shared response.”
“As we recover from the collective trauma of COVID 19, we must work together to build a new future that’s equitable, inclusive and coherent.”
Csaba Kőrösi (interview): “It is a time of unprecedented and interlocking crisis in the world, and responding to that it is, and it must be, a year of crisis management and transformation in the General Assembly.”
“The human dimension of this transformation is very closely characterized by three health-related negotiating processes on the Tuberculosis (TB) preparedness, the pandemic preparedness, and the universal health coverage. We are very strongly relying on the conviction of the member states and other stakeholders that when health is at risk, everything is at risk.”
“It is not purely a health issue. It’s an issue of policymaking, issue of financing, issue of scientific progress, issue of technological advancement, and issue of how we build trust among ourselves, and how to rebuild our networks of cooperation.”
“DAMA protocol is trying to identify those mostly viruses that have the most potential of making the big jump to the human body. We know that there are about eight strains on the watch list now, but the number of potential bugs are much, much higher. But this is not what we can decide here in the General Assembly. It is a job for researchers, for scientists. Our job is to draw lessons learned from our own mistakes.”
This script was provided by The Associated Press.