A/HRC/36/20 forcing people out of their homes and their livelihoods at record levels, and the deliberate targeting of health workers and health facilities. 7. Thanks to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the world had a vital opportunity to advance the very conditions in which rights to and through health could flourish. A worldwide commitment was required to “leave no one behind”. Moreover, the right to health must be enshrined in national law. Social and gender norms that eroded health should be removed. People themselves must be empowered to claim their rights, and health workers and advocates must be protected as they defended those rights. B. Keynote statement 8. The Director General of WHO welcomed the emphasis on capacity-building in public health as a means of upholding the right to health. As stated in the WHO Constitution: “Governments have a responsibility for the health of their peoples which can be fulfilled only by the provision of adequate health and social measures.” That included providing essential preventive and curative health services and medicines, adequate numbers of health facilities located close to people’s homes and sufficient numbers of appropriately trained and motivated health staff. Countries needed the statistical data from information systems that recorded births, deaths and causes of death; data on diseases and medical conditions; and civil registration to ensure that each child had a legal identity and the rights and entitlements which that legal identity conferred. The right to health depended on legislation and regulatory authorities that kept water, air, food and medicines safe. Realization of the right to health protected people against discrimination and exclusion, and helped to ensure that all people had an equal opportunity to enjoy the highest attainable level of health and that people with a physical or mental disability were not deprived of their liberty or legal capacity. 9. The Director General drew attention to the work of WHO, including its Framework Convention on Tobacco Control; guidance on legislation that could reduce the harmful use of alcohol and protect children from the marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages; and the development of other instruments and mechanisms that contributed to fair access to care and thus underpinned the right to health, most notably by making pharmaceutical products more affordable. 10. Highlighting the worldwide inequality in access to quality health care, including medicines, she noted that respect for the right to health was a hallmark of good governance. Countries that had enshrined the right to health in their constitutions generally had the best human rights records. Moreover, a health system oriented towards universal health coverage would leave no one behind. Since universal health systems protected against financial hardship caused by paying for essential health care, they also operated as a significant poverty reduction strategy and thus a nation-building strategy. They were the ultimate expression of fairness. They were one of the most powerful social equalizers among all policy options. C. Overview of presentations by the panellists 11. Mr. Nyenswah discussed the management of public health emergencies in West Africa, specifically Liberia, using the example of the unprecedented 2014 Ebola epidemics, as well as the task of building a resilient health system in the context of human rights. Liberia had borne the brunt of the epidemic and seen the collapse of its public health systems. In response, the Government had established an incident management system to lead the response and coordination of all public health interventions to combat Ebola in the country. China provided a good example of South-South cooperation in the assistance it had given Liberia in curbing the epidemic. China had provided much-needed supplies, equipment and personnel to work alongside the Liberian team. 12. It was vital to promote the rights to social security, education, and water and sanitation services, in accordance with article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, since they were critical for people’s health, particularly in developing countries. 3