Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General and the directors of WHO’s six regional offices have launched a new plan to transform the Organization over the coming 24 months.

The transformation is designed to enable WHO to achieve ambitious new goals outlined in the draft 13th Global Programme of Work to be discussed in a special session of WHO’s Governing Body on 22-23 November.

The goals are:

• to extend universal health coverage to 1 billion more people;
• to make 1 billion more people safer;
• and to improve the lives of 1 billion more people through the health SDGs over the next five years.

The Director-General and the Regional Directors have agreed 10 immediate first steps recommended by the heads of WHO country offices earlier in the week. The steps are seen as ‘quick wins’ that will better enable WHO to achieve real impact at country level.

They are in line with the three strategic shifts laid out in the Global Programme of Work: to step up global leadership for health, drive impact in every country, and make sure WHO's health guidance and other normative work improves health in countries.

They also align with the five organizational shifts proposed in the Global Programme of Work: to better measure impact; reshape WHO’s operating model; transform its partnerships, communications, and financing; build fit-for-purpose processes and tools; and foster culture change.