The 10th Global Baku Forum themed “The World of Today: Challenges and Hopes” has continued with panel sessions.

The panel session entitled “Building a renewed global health architecture: promoting, providing, protecting, powering and performing for health” was moderated by former President of Bulgaria Rosen Plevneliev.

Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus addressed the participants of the session through a video message, noting that life after the coronavirus pandemic is in the recovery stage. “The primary goal of the WHO is to be more prepared against future pandemics. Once again, COVID-19-pandemic has shown that health is more important than anything else. We call on all countries to consider the promotion, providing, protecting, powering and performing (5P) plan. All the countries must be provided with necessary supplies to improve their healthcare system,” the WHO chief said.

Speaking at the event, Executive Director UNAIDS, Under-Secretary-General of UN Winnie Byanyima highlighted the importance of ensuring the procurement and equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. He urged the world leaders to solve structural problems, adding that the pandemic has created chaos in economically backward countries.

Deputy Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Najat Mokhtar said that the COVID-19 pandemic has set the world back 10 years in a number of issues. Noting that cancer is one of the major challenges of our time, Mokhtar said that several countries of the world do not have the necessary equipment for its treatment.

Former President of Montenegro Filip Vujanovic pointed out that many people did not take into account the seriousness of the situation during the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to severe consequences.

Azerbaijan’s Minister of Health Teymur Musayev said that after the COVID-19 pandemic the construction of a renewed global health architecture has become an urgent issue. The minister stressed the importance of taking adequate measures both at international and national levels to reduce risks to global health and achieve sustainable health systems.

Former Prime Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina Zlatko Lagumdzija underlined that the health sector has improved in Europe. He also hailed the rich energy potential of Azerbaijan and Switzerland.

Director General of the Hadassah Medical Center Yoram Weiss spoke about the negative impact of COVID-19 pandemic on countries and the world economy. He also highlighted the importance of conducting new research in the field of medicine.

Former Prime Minister of the UK, Special Envoy of UN on Global Education, WHO Ambassador for Global Health Financing Gordon Brown, who also addressed the panel session through a video message, emphasized that the world countries should learn from their past mistakes. He regretfully noted that in some countries only one in four was vaccinated. “After the Russia-Ukraine war, several countries are experiencing shortage of medical supplies. The situation in the world, especially regarding infectious diseases need to be examined and analyzed,” he added.

The panel session continued with discussions.