UN High Panel arrives today

The United Nations Secretary-General High Level Panel on Global Response on Health Crisis, which is headed by H.E. Ms. Micheline Calmy-Rey, arrives in Liberia on Wednesday, August 5, 2015 for a two-day consultative meetings with President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and other officials of government.

Ms. Calmy-Rey, who is a former President of Switzerland and a Special Envoy for the UN Secretary General, and entourage will touch down at the James Spriggs Payne Airport at 5:15 p.m. and will be met upon arrival by the Chief of Protocol of the Republic of Liberia and other Senior Officials of the Liberian Government.

Ms. Calmy-Rey will later hold consultations with Mr. Antonio Vigilante, the United Nations Resident Coordinator and Officer in Charge of UNMIL, and Dr. Alex Gasasira, WHO Resident Representative to Liberia on the same day.

In the afternoon of Thursday, August 6, the UN High Level Panel will pay a courtesy call on President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where a consultative meeting is expected to take place. The meeting will be attended by senior level officials of the Liberian Government and members of the visiting delegation.

The Liberian side, which will be led to the Meeting by President Sirleaf, will include Foreign Minister Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan, Finance and Development Planning Minister Amara Konneh, Dr. Edward B. McClain, Jr., Minister of State for Presidential Affairs, Dr. Bernice Dahn, Minister of Health and Mr. Lewis G. Brown, II, Minister of Information, Culture Affairs and Tourism.

Others expected to form part of the Liberian team are Madam Julia Duncan Cassell, Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Mr. Sylvester M. Grigsby, Minister of State without Portfolio and Att’y Tolbert G. Nyenswah, Head of the Incident Management System and Emergency Center.

Members of former President Calmy-Rey’s delegation will include H.E. Mr. Celso Amorim, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brazil, Mr. Maryty Natalegawa, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia, Ms. Joy Phumaphi, former Executive Secretary of the Africa Leaders Malaria Alliance and Dr. Rajiv Shah, former Administrator, United States Agency for International Development (USIAD). Also on the HLP’s delegation will be Mr. Antonio Vigilante, UN Resident Coordinator /OIC -UNMIL and Dr. Alex Gasasira, WHO Resident Representative to Liberia.

The High Level Panel on the Global Response to Health Crises was established by the United Nations Secretary-General in April, 2015. The Panel‘s visit to the West African region will provide an opportunity for members of its delegation to hear the views of governments and communities of the Ebola-affected countries as well as national and international responders on the global Ebola response and gain their perspectives on the measures needed to improve the Global Health Architecture.

The visiting Panel will make recommendations aimed at strengthening the national and international systems to prevent and manage future health crises, taking into account lessons learnt from the response to the Ebola virus disease crisis.

The Panel will also undertake consultations with representatives of the Liberian government, the United Nations in Liberia, the private sector, including civil society, and international partners. Following those meetings, the Panel will present its findings and recommendations.-Press Release