Speaking from the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) headquarters in Geneva on Wednesday, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the global attention being paid to the war in Ukraine left him feeling in “pain,” and he demanded the world pay “equal attention to black and white lives.”
“I don’t know if the world really gives equal attention to black and white lives,” he said. “I said it last week: the whole attention to Ukraine is very important, of course, because it impacts the whole world but [not] even a fraction of it is being given to Tigray, Yemen, Afghanistan, Syria and others.”
Last month Tedros argued that there is “nowhere on earth where the health of millions of people is more under threat” than Ethiopia’s Tigray region.
He also critiqued the press for what he said is its failure to document the ongoing atrocities there, noting people had been burned alive in the region as part of summary executions. “I don’t even know if that was taken seriously by the media,” he said.
“And I need to be blunt and honest that the world is not treating the human race the same way,” Tedros added. “Some are more equal than others. And when I say this, it pains me. Because I see it.”