THE FBA SDNY UNITED NATIONS REPORTER SERIES
By Margaux D’Orlando-Dubois[1]
FBA UN Reporter
April 5, 2020
On March 23rd, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of World Health Organization (WHO), held a press conference to provide updates about the COVID19 situation. As the WHO and Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) had agreed to promote health through football months ago, their collaboration has continued to the present as partners working to fight the virus. Football matches have been suspended, yet more action is still needed. Therefore, the Director-General announced the launch of a joint campaign: “Pass the message to kick out coronavirus.” He thanked FIFA for its $10 million donation to the Coronavirus Responsibility Respond Fund which has already collected more than $70 million in just 10 days. He provided the same acknowledgement to TikTok for its $10 million donation and its ability to engage the younger community. Finally, he mentioned communication alert messages were being made regularly with the help of WhatsApp.
Mr. Gianni Infantino, President of FIFA thanked the amazing work realized by the medical force fighting against the COVID19 and gave his condolences to the families that already lost close ones. As soon as Covid-19 was declared a pandemic, Mr Infantino consulted with the Director-General of WHO to help and the idea of a campaign was born. The soccer players were forthcoming in their desire to participate in the campaign and with 211 country members around the world willing to create graphics and videos, Mr. Infantino remarked that the circumstances requires that we all act together with determination, discipline and teamwork. By doing so, “Together, we will win.”
Allison Becker, WHO Ambassador and well-known goalkeeper remarked that since football teams work and train together, the virus had changed the game for everyone including football players, since they could not bring joy to people anymore through the game. However, solidarity and health need to come first in these troubling times.
Dr. Ghebreyesus remarked that “We are not prisoners to statistics […] We can change the trajectory of this pandemic”. He reported that more than 300 million cases have been reported to WHO from almost every country around the world. It took only 67 days from the announcement of the first case to reach the first 100 million cases; 11 days for the second hundred million cases; and four days for the third hundred million cases. Those numbers are impressive and show the incredible speed with which the virus spreads. Although numbers matter as they represent people and family behind them, fear must not lead us and actions must be taken. As a football game, we cannot win only by defending, attacking is necessary too.
He remarked that we needed to take offensive measures such as testing every suspected case, quarantining every patient and their close contacts. The key protocol should be Test – Identify – Isolate. But several countries had encountered difficulties in enforcing these measures. He noted that help is provided between regions and countries via the delivery of emergency medical teams to others countries in need.
He reported that we need unity in the G20 countries which have more than 80% person of the global GDP. Protective health workers are a top priority. He explained that rationing and prioritizing the use of personal protective equipment, and addressing the global shortage of these lifesaving tools means addressing every part of the supply chain from raw material to final products. Solving this problem requires political commitment and coordination at a global level. He reported that he would work with the heads of state at the G20 countries to:
- Increase production;
- Avoid export bans; and
- Insure equity of distribution on the basis of need rather than nationality.
He reminded us that a very strong solidarity is required during this health crisis.
He reported that currently there is no specific efficient treatment against of COVID19. However, the use of currently available drugs to fight COVID19 has led to a shortage of essential medicine needed to cure others diseases. To address that, the WHO has launched the Solidarity Trail to support the research of a treatment against the virus. Another respiratory disease that kills 1.5 millions people every year must not be forgotten is tuberculosis. TB day is on the 24th of March is an opportunity to remind world leaders of the commitment they took to fight this ancient disease. The same energy and purpose should be used to fight COVID19 by the global community to ensure a healthier, safer and fairer world for everyone.
Following the press conference, a Q&A session was held, and the following are key takeaways from that session:
- Only State and Country governments can make the decision to curtail groceries and be in charge of the food delivery for its people.
- While the scope of testing may not reflect the reality of the virus spread yet, each country is strongly encouraged to take aggressive actions such as developing more testing centers. Suspected cases must be tested and that is the top priority.
- No question of blame matters today. The only focus of the WHO is to take action to fight the COVID19 virus.
- There will be a palpable social, psychological and economic impact that is of concern to all countries. There is no need to shut down everything if highly aggressive efforts to locate infected individuals are used successfully.
- There is no confirmation today that the loss of smell or taste is a common feature of the virus. For now, fever, dry couch, shorten of breath, and occasional headaches are the confirmed symptoms.
[1] Margaux D’Orlando-Dubois is an LL.M. Student studying International Dispute Resolution at Fordham Law School. She anticipates graduating in Spring, 2020.