UNGA80 reporters' notebook: Day 4

<div id="rc930pm" style="border-top: 3px dotted #ff9900; padding-top: 10px;"><h2>Not today, NCDs</h2></div> By Rumbi Chakamba, 9.30 p.m. ET The U.N. declaration on noncommunicable diseases hit a wall Thursday when the United States rejected it, forcing a full General Assembly vote — which could possibly take place next month. U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. called the text “misdirected,” accusing it of pushing “destructive gender ideology,” and insisting it “exceeds the U.N.’s proper role.” He added that member states had agreed that the meeting should approve the declaration in advance by consensus to ensure the process would not be marred by controversy, but the declaration is “filled with controversy.” The text does not mention gender except in relation to health challenges that women face. “The United States will walk away from the declaration, but we will never walk away from the world or our commitment to end chronic disease. We stand ready to lead,” he concluded. In a statement, the NCD Alliance said, “while it is disappointing that a tiny minority of governments voiced their objection to the declaration, they stand isolated. The momentum for accelerated action is growing.” UNGA80 President Annalena Baerbock kept things diplomatic: “While I understand that there remain objections by some member states, there is also broad support for the text. The document will be considered by member states in the General Assembly.” <div id="rc820pm" style="border-top: 3px dotted #ff9900; padding-top: 10px;"><h2>Exit strategy, please</h2></div> By Rumbi Chakamba, 8:20 p.m. ET At the Clinton Global Initiative’s closing session, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus acknowledged that the agency is facing tough times following the U.S. withdrawal, which triggered a financial crisis. He said he has not had any direct engagement with the Trump administration, even though the U.S. continues to request outbreak information from the agency — which WHO still provides. “We share, we don’t even ask any question, because at the end of the day, we want the safety of the American people,” he said. “U.S. withdrawal makes the U.S. unsafe and makes the world unsafe as well.” Though the funding vacuum has forced the agency to make “painful” staff cuts, it is also an opportunity to strengthen the organization, focus it on its core mandate, and make it more independent, he said, adding that dependency on a few major donors puts the agency at risk of financial shocks. “But not only that, with a big amount of money coming from one donor, you can compromise your independence as well,” he said. “When the donor base is broadened, we can absorb shocks, but at the same time, can be independent.” He concluded by adding that the “U.S. and any government have the right to use its money the way it wants. The only thing from WHO we asked at the time was the U.S. could have given some exit strategy. … That would have addressed the problems we’re facing now and could have saved the lives that we have lost.” <div id="rc8pm" style="border-top: 3px dotted #ff9900; padding-top: 10px;"><h2>Rolling up those sleeves</h2></div> By Rumbi Chakamba, 8 p.m. ET Closing out the Clinton Global Initiative gathering, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton contrasted the optimistic atmosphere of the meeting — held alongside the U.N. General Assembly — with the more somber mood at the global leaders’ summit. “Now, I know a couple of blocks away at the U.N., there has been a lot of gloom, and sadly for good reason, but on this side of Sixth Avenue, over 1,100 people from 63 countries, spanning the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors, have stood up with what one attendee called dignified optimism,” she said. Clinton added that while caring about the fate of humanity can feel lonely, it’s a value she shares with CGI participants. “Coming together this week at CGI is an antidote to the kind of despair and concerns and even fear that we have seen over the last months; our working groups have had a chance to stop wringing our hands and rolling up our sleeves instead,” she said. She then went on to highlight key achievements from the event’s working groups, including a new social enterprise fund of at least $10 million to be launched in 2026 by Kiva Microfunds in partnership with corporate foundations coming out of the Innovative Finance Working Group, and a project to expand maternal telehealth in Zimbabwe emerging from the Health Working Group. In a wry jab aimed at Trump’s UNGA speech, she added: “Members of our Climate Working Group dug into the top realities of climate change, which, just by the way, is not a hoax, despite what we heard at the U.N. this week. In fact, they came out with a number of bold plans, including creating a water fund to unlock economic opportunities for millions of people.” <div id="jcl433pm" style="border-top: 3px dotted #ff9900; padding-top: 10px;"><h2>Bahamas PM pledges to fight climate change — with or without the US</h2></div> By Jesse Chase-Lubitz, 4:33 p.m. ET If you’re not watching too closely, it might be easy to assume that global action on climate change is on its way out. On Tuesday, Trump spent a significant amount of his time speaking to the U.N. General Assembly disparaging climate action. He called it a “scam” and a “con” — and called climate scientists at the U.N. “stupid people.” But in a five-hour gathering on Wednesday, more than 100 nations gathered to speak about their climate ambitions for the next five years. These nations took climate change much more seriously, with the European Union pledging to reduce emissions by between 66% to 72% and China committing to a decrease of between 7% to 10%. Many say China’s commitment is far lower than its potential and likely reductions, however. “It’s not lost on us, the role the U.S. plays in advancing climate action. But if we have to go it alone, we will go it alone,” Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis said in an interview with Devex on Thursday. “I’m encouraged by the countries’ statements on this issue and where they are on their [nationally determined contributions],” Davis said. “When talking with other country leaders, none of them have indicated any retreat from the path they are on toward net-zero,” said Davis. “Overwhelmingly, I can say that the countries remain steadfast to their commitments. I am not hearing any other country at the moment who has indicated that they want to throw the science out the window.” The Bahamas, a small island nation that has been hit again and again by weather disasters, is dealing with everything from how to pay for skyrocketing insurance premiums to rising mental health issues caused by these traumatic disasters. “As I speak to you now, there are two [weather] systems bearing down on my island,” said Davis. “One has been named and both will be organized within the next 24 hours. That’s the reality of the world we live in and the country in which we live.” Davis said that climate is his priority at UNGA, but that he’s increasingly looking at discussions about climate-caused mental health challenges. “There’s a link between natural disasters and mental health,” he said, adding that Hurricane Dorian, which hit in 2019 and remains the worst hurricane to hit the island, has caused a level of post traumatic stress across the population. “When rain falls there’s trembling and trauma,” Davis added. <a rel="noopener" target="_self" href="#top"><b>Back to top ↑</b></a> <div id="jcl215pm" style="border-top: 3px dotted #ff9900; padding-top: 10px;"><h2>West side deals, east side decrees</h2></div> By Jesse Chase-Lubitz, 2:15 p.m. ET As New York Climate Week draws private investors to high-profile deals, the gap between private industry and government policy is geographically divided between the United Nations in Manhattan’s eastern Turtle Bay neighborhood and the sprawling Climate Week events spread throughout Midtown. Tom Beloe, director of United Nations Development Programme’s Sustainable Finance Hub, has been rushing between the two scenes — spending time with investors who are thinking about innovation and transactions, and with world leaders, who are focused on institutional change and policy. “It’s insane that these things happen at the same time,” he told Devex. “We have to make a connection between the two,” he said. “There’s no way that the transactions that we’re talking about on the west side of New York will be able to get the scale that we need to be able to address the challenges articulated in the [nationally determined contributions] unless we make the link to policy and institutions. It’s fun going between the two, but it’s also frustrating.” Nationally determined contributions, or NDCs, are countries’ action plans to ensure global warming stays below the 1.5 Celsius target set in the 2015 Paris Agreement. Beloe said that there does seem to be slightly more awareness in the private sector this year than in the past. The term “NDCs” is less foreign to investors, he said, but there needs to be more work from the policy side in making their NDCs “investible.” “They have to be talking about NDCs less as policy frameworks and more as investment plans,” he said. This challenge, he said, is in the hands of finance ministries, who can partner with environment ministries not just to discuss the budgets of each ministry, but to embed climate change into their budgetary process. There has been momentum, he said, referring to the recently created Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action and Brazil’s Circle of Finance Ministers for the 30th U.N. Climate Change Conference, or COP30. “There is momentum with ministries of finance that I think could be a breakthrough in beginning to bridge to the private sector, but we’ve still got a long way to go,” he said. <a rel="noopener" target="_self" href="#top"><b>Back to top ↑</b></a> <div id="em216pm" style="border-top: 3px dotted #ff9900; padding-top: 10px;"><h2>Code red for girls — and for boys, too</h2></div> By Elissa Miolene, 2:16 p.m. ET That’s how Zainab Salbi, the co-founder of philanthropic fund Daughters for Earth, referred to the issue of violence against women — stating that foreign aid cuts, climate change, and backlash against women’s rights has created a “tsunami” of gender-based violence across the world. “We’ve got to shift our narrative [to realize] that the world can collapse without the rise of women and girls,” said Salbi, urging instead that the focus be on how the world benefits from women’s uplift. “We also have to shift, in my opinion, our interventions.” Salbi, who also co-founded the nonprofit Women for Women International, pushed for placing economic gains at the forefront: often, she said, families will postpone child marriage if they realize their daughter can make more money as an educated, working adult than a young, child bride. But Salbi and several other panelists also emphasized ramping up support for men and boys — a concept that throughout the week has popped up over and over again. “As a mother who has a son and a daughter, I see that my daughter has benefited from so many programs to uplift women — and my son has had zero programs to uplift men,” said Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli, who spoke alongside Salbi at Thursday’s panel. “If we do not balance it out, this violence will increase, the fear will increase, and we will see implications in our economies.” It was a topic raised by former U.S. President Bill Clinton and California Gov. Gavin Newsom earlier this week. Men and boys are falling behind in education, employment and health — something that aggravates violence for women and girls, too, the panelists said. “Look at the suicide rates, look at the drop out rates, look at the deaths of despair,” said Newsom, speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative on Wednesday. “It’s just blinking red lights for young men.” <a rel="noopener" target="_self" href="#top"><b>Back to top ↑</b></a> <div id="rc1230pm" style="border-top: 3px dotted #ff9900; padding-top: 10px;"><h2>Swiping left</h2></div> By Rumbi Chakamba, 12:30 p.m. ET U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. addressed the U.N. General Assembly’s high-level meeting on noncommunicable diseases with a clear message: The U.S. plans to swipe left on the political declaration up for adoption. “America has the highest chronic disease burden on Earth; it is both a public health crisis and an economic crisis,” RFK Jr. said. “We know that 90% of health care costs — about $4 trillion a year — are spent on chronic disease. It's also an actual security crisis; seven out of every 10 American children cannot qualify for military service. America suffers more than anybody else.” He said President Donald Trump wants to lead a global effort against ultra-processed foods and related illnesses, but the declaration does “both too little and too much.” Calling it “misdirected” and “filled with controversy,” he added that the United States “cannot accept language that pushes destructive gender ideology,” and argued the World Health Organization cannot claim credibility for leadership until it undertakes a radical transformation. “The United States will walk away from the declaration, but we will never walk away from the world or our commitment to end chronic disease. We stand ready to lead,” he concluded. The political declaration is seen as a key step to galvanizing action on NCDs and mental health, but critics note it lacks specific language and targets on health taxes, and makes no mention of fossil fuels — the leading cause of air pollution. <a rel="noopener" target="_self" href="#top"><b>Back to top ↑</b></a> <div id="mi11am" style="border-top: 3px dotted #ff9900; padding-top: 10px;"><h2>Not riding off into the sunset</h2></div> By Michael Igoe, 11:00 a.m. ET United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres made waves this week with a proposal to “sunset” — i.e., close up shop — UNAIDS by the end of 2026. At an UNGA side event convened by health access groups on Thursday, UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima responded to that proposal. “We are not going to disappear before the [HIV] pandemic itself has been sunset,” Byanyima said, drawing applause. “We will change, but we are not going to disappear.” I joined Byanyima for a quick elevator ride after the event and asked her to weigh in on the Trump administration’s new global health strategy — and specifically its plan to restructure U.S. global health assistance around bilateral “compacts,” which will shift health funding responsibility from the U.S. government to partner governments over a two- to five-year timeline. My question for Byanyima: Is that feasible? Her answer: Actually, yes. “Governments will have to reprioritize, and then they will have to look at how to raise more domestic resources,” she said. Byanyima said that UNAIDS has already been working with governments to create road maps toward domestic financing, and now those will have to be accelerated. “There's a need to look at more progressive taxation, closing tax loopholes, and increasing their spend on health and reducing their spend on other things that are not so essential. It's doable. It's doable,” she said. <a rel="noopener" target="_self" href="#top"><b>Back to top ↑</b></a>