UN Secretary-General Mr Ban Ki-moon has just announced the creation of a “Global Health Crises” Task Force, which will bring together 3 co-leads and 12 members, including Inserm Chairman and CEO Yves Lévy. The Task Force will ensure the implementation and monitoring of the recommendations of the report, “Protecting humanity from future health crises,” submitted to the UN Secretary-General in February 2016 by the High-level Panel on the Global Response to Health Crises[1]. The main mission of the Task Force will be to alert the UN Secretary-General on matters related to emerging crises and any gaps or weaknesses in the world health system.

Le Professeur Yves Lévy, Président-directeur général de l’Inserm.

©Inserm/Guénet, François

The members of the Task Force are internationally renowned figures in the area of infectious diseases, community healthcare, public health and development, risk assessment, implementation of humanitarian actions, and emergency management of epidemics with respect to research and innovation.

“It is an immense honour to have been appointed as a member of this international task force by the UN Secretary-General, to fulfil this ambitious mission,” says Yves Lévy, Chairman and CEO of Inserm. “Like the REACTing consortium (REsearch and ACTion targeting emerging infectious diseases), spearheaded by Inserm and Aviesan in 2013 to improve research preparation in periods between crises, and establish research projects in periods of epidemic crisis, I hope our work will contribute to strengthening the systems, throughout the world, that can assist the global response to the emergence of epidemics. It has become a key health issue for the planet.”

The Task Force will exercise its functions for one year, starting in July 2016.

The Task Force will be co-led by Jan Eliasson, UN Deputy Secretary-General, Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank Group and Margaret Chan, Director-General of WHO. The Deputy Secretary-General will serve as Chair of the Task Force.

The list of co-leads and members of the Task Force is accessible via the link below:
https://www.un.org/sg/offthecuff/index.asp?nid=4603

 

[1] This panel was established in April 2015 by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to strengthen national and international systems to prevent and manage health crises, taking into account lessons learned from the response to the emergence of Ebola virus in West Africa in early 2015.