UN General Assembly
2014

Crime to provide a framework for Member States to develop a robust programme to help to bring an end to that affront to human dignity and freedom. We cannot ignore the link between our efforts to spur development and the need to safeguard the health of our people. The challenges to security and sustainable development posed by threats to global public health have been devastatingly illustrated by the recent outbreak of the Ebola epidemic. As we heard just two days ago from the Director-General of the World Health Organization, every day, every minute, counts in fighting the most severe public-health emergency seen in modern times. This is the time for courageous partnership, not inaction based on fear. An urgent and robust international response is required to marshal all the medical expertise and modern technologies that are at our disposal. The pandemic nature of global health threats such as Ebola and HIV/AIDS, including the silent killers of non-communicable diseases, require that we employ measures to combat them that are similar in intensity and urgency to those used in the