THE opening speech by World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus at the 73rd World Health Assembly's virtual meeting on Monday has been lauded by one local public health expert as “the most brilliant watershed speech by any WHO director general.

Dr Winston Davidson, professor of public health and health technology at the University of Technology, Jamaica, told the Jamaica Observer that the key points addressed in the director general's speech serve as a guide for member states to map their way forward coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, to ensure they are not caught flat-footed should another such occurrence happen.

“That speech is so strategic that people are going to keep referring to it for the next year, I can tell you that,” Dr Davidson said, following a release he sent to the press explaining the importance of the speech.

The relevance of the speech to global and national development is timely and strategically important for all countries whose economic development models are presently at an existential crossroads,” Professor Davidson said.

In his speech, the WHO director general described the global pandemic as a dangerous enemy, with a dangerous combination of features, namely, the virus being efficient, fast, and fatal.