Your Excellency Ambassador Al-Muftah [al-MUF-tah],
WFUNA Secretary-General Aziel Goulandris,
President Maximilian Van Deventer,
Director-General Alexander Dietz,
Our faculty advisers and observers,
Dear delegates, colleagues and friends,
You have come to the end of the Fourth Global Model WHO.
The first, in 2023, was virtual, and this is now the third in-person.
But it will not be the last. We are committed to continuing, because we see the value to you, and to us.
Four days ago, you arrived in Geneva as students.
Today, you leave as negotiators, diplomats and advocates for health.
About 400 of you, from more than 50 countries. Many of you crossed oceans and continents to be here. Thank you for making that journey.
And Alexander, it is not every day that I share a stage with another Director-General of WHO. Maybe we can compare notes.
This week, you took on six questions that our Member States are wrestling with right now:
Urban health; oral health; artificial intelligence and trust in health information; the ethical recruitment of health workers; the commercial determinants of health; and plastics and health.
None of these are hypothetical. They are debated in this building, by the people whose seats you have been sitting in.
You argued. You listened. You gave ground where you had to. And you reached agreement.
That is exactly how our Member States adopted the WHO Pandemic Agreement last year – after more than three years of the same hard, patient work.
And that is exactly what they are continuing to do in this building as we speak – to negotiate the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing system, the PABS annex.
Although differences remain, they are continuing to make progress.
This week, you have experienced some of what they experience.
The stakes are high, the issues are complex and the positions are diverse.
Multilateralism is not easy. It can be slow and frustrating – but it’s worth it.
Because in a complex and diverse world, the only way to solve shared problems is to find shared solutions.
That’s what you did today by adopting the Youth Declaration on Plastics and Health.
Six of you, one from each WHO region, drafted it. All of you adopted it.
Plastics are in our oceans, our soil and the air we breathe.
And now they are in our bodies. Microplastics have been found in human lungs, brains, blood, the placenta and in breast milk.
The generation that will live longest with the consequences is yours. That is why your voice carries weight on this issue.
This declaration will not sit on a shelf.
The World Health Assembly has asked WHO to scale up its work on plastics and health.
Your declaration will feed directly into that work, just as we have taken forward the Youth Declaration on Social Connection.
And your engagement with WHO does not have to end today.
I encourage you to stay connected, including through the WHO Youth Council.
Let me finish with some words of thanks.
Your Excellency, thank you for being with us today.
I also thank WFUNA, our partner in this initiative from the start. So much happens behind the scenes to make an event like this possible. We see it, and we value it.
I thank the Conference Secretariat, the committee chairs and the communications team. This conference was run by young people from start to finish.
I also thank my WHO colleagues who shared their expertise with you this week, and the faculty advisers who guided you here.
Dear delegates,
Young people are often called the leaders of tomorrow. This week, you did the work today.
Take what you learned here home – to your schools, your communities, your families and friends.
Keep asking hard questions. Keep looking for the deal that others say cannot be done.
There is a place in global health for your ideas and your energy. We need both.
Thank you all, and I wish you a safe and healthy journey home.