UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan has urged the international community to provide adequate funding to the World Health Organization (WHO) to assist developing countries in improving their health infrastructures that are under severe pressure from the impact of ongoing conflicts, climate change and global energy crisis, among other factors.
“Developing countries need access to essential health care services and safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines, vaccines, latest diagnostics and health technologies, including assistive technologies,” Ambassador Muhammad Usman Iqbal Jadoon, acting permanent representative of Pakistan to the UN, told the General Assembly on Thursday.
Speaking in a debate on Global Health, the Pakistani envoy said the ongoing global health challenges underscored the urgency of a collaborative and comprehensive approach premised on the principles of equity, non-discrimination, global solidarity and burden sharing. Public health today, he said, was not merely a humanitarian concern but an economic, social and strategic imperative that affects all.
Pointing out that COVID-19 especially highlighted the health systems’ limitations, Ambassador Jadoon said, “It made us realize how unprepared we were, and probably still are. –Agencies
