Seventy-ninth World Health Assembly General Debate : Statement by Greece

Ambassador Ioannis Ghikas, Permanent Representative of Greece to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Geneva, made the following statement during the general debate of the 79th World Health Assembly:

"Distinguished Chair,

Director-General,
Distinguished Delegates,

We meet as global health systems are under tremendous pressure from climate change, demographic shifts, pandemics, conflicts, and rising costs.

In this environment, building global resilience is no longer optional. It is the foundation of health security and our shared responsibility. 

For Greece, strengthening resilience has meant transforming crisis into modernization. Over the last six years, Greece has undertaken an ambitious digital health transition: unified electronic health records, nationwide e-prescriptions, telemedicine networks, and digital patient services that now connect citizens across the mainland and our islands.

The results have been significant. In terms of prevention, roughly thirty thousand women have been diangosed in time due to early, systematic, digitized scanning for breast cancer. In terms of reducing costs, expenses related to prescription medicines have been reduced by 50% due to the digital prescription procedure. And these are just some of the major benefits of digitalization and prevention.

Today, we are entering the next phase: the strategic integration of Artificial Intelligence into public health systems.

Artificial Intelligence is one of the most cost-effective tools available for strengthening healthcare systems globally, particularly in developing countries with limited resources.

More generally, AI can reduce administrative burdens, save thousands of working hours for medical personnel, optimize hospital management, support early diagnosis, improve epidemiological forecasting, and expand access to healthcare in remote and underserved regions through telemedicine."

For countries with limited infrastructure, AI offers the possibility to leapfrog traditional barriers and deliver quality care at far lower cost. It also strengthens preparedness against climate-related health emergencies.

Digitalization and secure health data sharing allow health systems to identify emerging threats faster, coordinate responses more effectively, and save lives.

International cooperation is essential to ensure equitable access to digital health technologies, capacity-building, and safeguards for data protection and patient trust.

Global health security cannot be fragmented. Vulnerabilities in one health system rapidly become vulnerabilities for all.

That is why making progress on the PABs annex is so crucially important. We believe it is well within our reach to shape a satisfactory framework. We would however look forward to improving working methods in the framework of the IGWG.

Greece therefore calls for stronger international cooperation, with the WHO at its heart, particularly to support resilient, affordable, and accessible healthcare systems worldwide.

Thank you."