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President and Mrs Carter, Excellencies, Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen
I would like to open this round table discussion on Partnership for Health by
very briefly outlining our vision on partnerships for health in development.
Past successes are an inspiring fundament for future achievements. That is
why we have used this unveiling ceremony as an opportunity to discuss
partnerships in a broader light.
At the World Health Organization, we have set out to chart a new course for
how we as a UN agency with limited funds but a reservoir of knowledge and a
privileged position can make a maximum impact in our complex world. We are -
with the support from our member states and partners – seeking to
significantly increase the impact of our contribution to health.
We have restructured the Organization, using lessons of effectiveness and
openness both from the private sector and from the best of public sector reform.
We have made WHO more flexible. We are refocusing our resources on global and
regional priorities, and on the issues where we best can make a difference. We
are focusing on our comparative advantages and we seek to bolster our capacity
where our strengths lie. We are seeking avenues where our work can mobilize the
efforts of others – how we can be a catalyst for health and development. We
are consolidating this approach in a corporate strategy that helps all parts of
the Organization pull in the same direction.
A key component in this strategy is to contribute to partnerships that are
committed to effective action. Often the best partnerships are those that are
forged between unorthodox entities. When people with vastly different
backgrounds come together with a shared purpose, creativity is released and
expertise is used in new and constructive ways.
A new spirit of dialogue, shared commitment and mutual respect is key to our
work with bilateral aid agencies, the World Bank and the regional development
banks, the International Monetary Fund, the research community, the private
sector and the media. Co-operation with our Member States reflects true
partnership and collaborative action.
Longstanding partnerships, such as the OCP have given us the experience which
allows us to expand our horizons and raise our ambitions. These days, we are
launching what we can call a second generation of partnerships. Through projects
such as Roll Back Malaria, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization,
the Stop TB Initiative, the Medicines for Malaria Venture and private-sector
collaboration such as The World Alliance for Community Health, we are going into
more complex partnerships than ever before.
We can do this because we now have a clearer understanding of what our
priorities are, what our strengths are and how our partners and ourselves
complement each other. WHO is the lead agency in health. But the broad
development agenda is too big and complex for any single agency. Even the broad
health agenda is too big for WHO alone. That means partnerships are becoming a
preferred working method – not exotic exceptions.
We are increasingly moving from our traditional approach which too often has
favoured our own small-scale projects - to one which gives more emphasis to
strategic alliances in which we influence both the thinking and spending of
other international actors - and where what we do fits into a broader picture.
It is a question of effective division of labour. We do so with very clear
ethical guidelines and a framework which will guide us away from any conflicts
of interest.
As our world becomes more global, more intertwined and more complex, the
clear-cut limits of responsibility between government, the private sector, the
international organizations and civil society are blurring. The world is
becoming a stakeholder society where all of us have a responsibility for
reducing poverty and improving health.
We live in a world that is impatient for effective development -
characterized by justice and equity. Rigid positions and turf battles, rhetoric
and failed promises are no longer acceptable. The World Health Organization
invites you all to collaborate with us so we together can make full use of all
opportunities that contribute to a better deal for world health - and poverty
reduction - in the next decade. |
