Money “shouldn’t make the difference between life and death,” says the WHO chief

On Friday, the director general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom, called on governments to ensure that people are not denied treatment due to financial constraints.

Tedros made remarks at the UN General Assembly’s virtual special session on COVID-19.

“In the face of the pandemic, many countries have offered free tests and treatments for COVID-19 and promised free vaccinations for their populations. They recognized that the ability to pay shouldn’t make the difference between sickness and health, and life and death, ”he said.

“Shouldn’t that also apply to a crisis like cancer, heart disease, HIV, tuberculosis or malaria? Shouldn’t that also be true of services like routine immunization, maternal care and tobacco control, which can prevent a crisis – and the costs of dealing with it? “

Earlier this week, the UK became the first country to approve a COVID-19 vaccine as the world continues its fight against the virus.

Since then, countries like France, Japan and Finland have pledged to give the vaccine to their citizens free of charge.

In his speech on Friday, Tedros also called for a fair distribution of the vaccine to ensure that other countries do not lag behind in the global fight against the disease.