Dear friends, May I thank His Excellency Carlos Alvarado Quesada
for the invitation to address you at
this important high level event hosted by the President of Costa Rica
and the World Health Organization. I'm so pleased that how best to respond
to Covid-19 is being discussed with urgency today,
and I congratulate Costa Rica and the WHO for their call for action
with conviction guided by the principle of universalism.
Today's event, which coincides with the United Nations' 75th General Assembly
represents a clarion call to member states of the WHO,
inter-governmental and non-governmental organisations,
and other key stakeholders, to work towards ensuring
the open knowledge exchange needed to develop the appropriate health tools
to combat COVID-19.
This pandemic has demonstrated,
with often tragic consequences, that new ideas are now required,
ideas based on equity of access, sufficiency, sustainability.
It has demonstrated an unequivocal need
for a new eco-social political economy, of having universal basic services
that will protect us in the future, of enabling people to achieve
sufficiency in what they need.
As President of Ireland I'm pleased that
Ireland is among 156 countries that have now
joined a program backed by the World Health Organisation
which aims to ensure their equitable distribution of any future vaccine
against COVID-19. The COVAX scheme hopes to
acquire 2 billion doses of safe and effective vaccines by the
end of 2021, with healthcare workers prioritised initially,
and then the most vulnerable 20%
in every participating country, regardless of income level.
The possibility of safe, effective and affordable diagnostics,
therapeutics and vaccines provides vital hope of overcoming COVID-19
but unless such medical tools are fully accessible
to all on an equitable basis, the world remains at risk.
Unequal responses to the pandemic will widen
inequalities already exacerbated by the impact of COVID-19.
We must recognise the damage of inequality;
inequality must be addressed.
The Sustainable Development Goals can
only be realised, we must remind ourselves,
with strong global partnerships and cooperation.
A multilateral approach to COVID health challenges
will be a powerful contribution to the realisation,
for example, of Goal 17 in particular, to revitalise the global partnership for
sustainable development.
COVID-19 is a global problem
and thus requires a global response.
A realisation now exists
that societies differ in their capacity to respond,
such as those societies in Africa and Latin America
who are in a more perilous position in terms of resources
that might be utilised in responding to COVID-19.
While the pandemic is a global threat, the most vulnerable are most at risk.
The World Health Organisation's Dr Mike Ryan frequently reminds us
that "no one is safe until everyone is safe."
There is, thus, a moral imperative to working together
in a spirit of collective ingenuity. The only effective, enduring, sustainable
approach to healthcare provision is one founded
on real multilateralism and solidarity that enables us all to be
ethical partners in the necessary structural change that
can deliver universal access to COVID health discoveries.
For those of us who believe in global social justice,
we place so much collective hope on its advancement.
The "Solidarity Call to Action" promoted
by the WHO and the Government of Costa Rica
promotes the notion of safe, effective technologies against COVID-19
as global public goods, and urges key stakeholders to commit to
undertaking the necessary actions "to realise equitable global access to
these technologies through pooling of knowledge,
intellectual property and data."
As traditional markets have acknowledged
that they cannot deliver at the scale needed
to cover the entire globe, solidarity within and between countries
and the private sector is essential if we are to overcome challenges
presented to us by COVID with regard to accessing appropriate medical treatments.
I do want to applaud those med tech companies that are
already leading the way in this regard, allowing open access to their medical
devices and innovations. This is global corporate social
responsibility at its best.
Solidarity among nations is key if we
are to optimise the world's management and eventual exit from this pandemic.
Today's event is a call to action to member states, academia, business,
research institutions and agencies, based on global social
responsibility to encourage more global, non-exclusive voluntary licensing.
Our citizens must be able and encouraged
to see themselves in the space of the vulnerability of each other.
Solidarity requires, too, our understanding
of the different kinds of vulnerability
as well as differences in capacities and circumstances.
The World Health Organisation's director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said
"the virus thrives on division but is thwarted when we unite.”
His insight echoes an ancient Irish proverb,
"ní neart go cur le chéile," there is strength in unity.
And work together we must.
Thank you. Gracias.
Beir beannacht