Addis Ababa: The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom urged all member states and partners to participate in the Investment Round, which has been launched by the organization last May to mobilizing predictable and flexible resources for its core works. The Director-General made the remark in his opening speech at the 74th session of the Regional Committee for Africa in Congo. Recall that WHO launched its first-ever Investment Round on May this year as part of a broader plan to transform the way the Organization is funded heading into an era of climate change, mass migration, pandemic threats, an ageing world population, and turbulent geopolitics. The fund aims at mobilizing predictable and flexible resources for WHO's core work for the next 4 years (2025-2028). Tedros told to the participants of the 74th session of the Regional Committee for Africa that every Member State can contribute something, within its means noting that every contribution makes a difference, what ever the amount. 'I urge all of you to continue to advocate for the Investment Round, because ultimately, the Investment Round is about you, our Member States, and the people we serve.' Investments in a strong and sustainably financed WHO are investments in a healthier Africa, Tedros stated. The Investment Round is itself part of the WHO Transformation, as the fourth pillar of our long-term plan to make WHO more sustainably financed. It's about ensuring WHO is fully funded, and that the funding we receive is more flexible, predictable, and resilient. Strengthening WHO's support for countries to prevent, prepare for and respond to health emergencies has been a key part of its transformation over the past six years. The transformation has been focused on making WHO more efficient, effective and results-oriented. That approach was embodied in a bold new strategy, the 13th General Programme of Work. GPW13 was the first of its kind in the history of our Organization, with measurable targets and clear ind icators, to support countries on the road towards the health-related SDGs. 'Although we have made progress down that road together, it has not been far enough, or fast enough. Even without the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, we would have been well short of our goals, as you know,' he indicated. The lessons learned from GPW13 have now been incorporated into GPW14, which Member States adopted at this year's World Health Assembly. Accordion to the director general, GPW14 incorporates lessons from the past, the realities of the present, and our aspirations for the future. It's based on a clear mission to promote, provide and protect health and well-being for all people, in all countries. 'To mobilize the resources we need to implement GPW14, we have launched the first WHO Investment Round." It's about ensuring WHO is fully funded, and that the funding we receive is more flexible, predictable, and resilient, he underscored. Source: Ethiopian News Agency