REN Minghui, Assistant Director-General of WHO, spoke at the launching ceremony of Institute for Global Health and Development, Peking University (PKU-iGHD) and the Beijing Forum 2020: COVID-19 Shocks to Global Health and Development:

Distinguished guests, dear colleagues, dear friends. I would like to congratulate the establishment of PKU-iGHD. The PKU-iGHD establishment is highly timely. Right now the COVID-19 pandemic is not yet over. Its impact is much more than just in the health arena.

We also see the crisis in the economy, humanitarian, and it has a major impact in globalization and its agenda. Health is a part of politics; it is a political choice. For the past decades, WHO holds the concept that enjoying health is a basic right for everyone. No one should die because of poverty. No family should become poor because of disease. All of us should enjoy equal rights to a full health service, including medicine, vaccines, and other products. Based on such a concept and consensus, the WHO is dedicated to establish a partnership and work with all for health for all to guarantee global health security and to have a good public service for everyone. There is unlimited pursuit of humankind for health, it is part of an important history for human beings. Urbanization actually brings contact of human beings and animals, so we see more risk of animal-source diseases.

Also, globalization, rises risk of the pandemic to spread over borders. Chronic, non-communicable disease burden increase has to do with environmental way of life. The deterioration of ecosystems threatens the security of the entire planet. All of these are key challenges for global health, aids, best interpretation of a community of shared future for all. Global health is an important agenda of global development and it requires global cooperation.

We join hands in fighting COVID-19, our health system, China played an important role and PKU-iGHD's establishment would be more important to enrich the series and practice of global health and development, WHO has great expectation for our future partnership. Thank you very much.