Your Excellency the Right Honourable Prime Minister Shree Sher Bahadur Deuba,
Your Excellency Anutin Charnvirakul, Honourable Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Health of the Royal Thai Government,
Your Excellency Honourable State Minister Mr Umesh Shrestha,
My sister Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia,
Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,
Subha prabhat, good morning. Greetings from Rome, where the G20 Minister of Health meeting is underway.
When I spoke to you last year, I said that I hoped we would be able to meet in person this year.
Unfortunately, that has not been possible. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to take a heavy toll on lives, livelihoods, societies and economies.
I am pleased to see a decline in cases and deaths in the South-East Asia region, following the devastating surge in May of this year.
However, I know the situation varies widely from country to country and place to place, with steep increases and overwhelmed hospitals in some areas.
I would like to acknowledge the efforts of Nepal in the face of this extremely challenging time, and I am glad to see cases and deaths declining in your country.
I commend the government for its efforts to strengthen epidemic response systems, including laboratory capacity, risk communication and case management.
I also commend Nepal for its efforts to continue essential health services during the pandemic, including immunization campaigns for polio, measles and rubella, vaccinating millions of children.
I’m pleased to see that 15 percent of Nepal’s population has been fully vaccinated, and that you aim to reach 40 percent by the end of this year, in line with WHO’s global targets. We are committed to supporting you in these efforts.
But as the experience with this pandemic shows, no country can let down its guard. Complacency can be as dangerous as the virus itself. We must continue to be vigilant.
WHO continues to recommend all countries to implement a comprehensive, risk-based approach, including the tailored and consistent use of public health and social measures, in combination with equitable vaccination.
One year ago, we were still waiting for, and hoping that, a safe and effective vaccine would be developed, and that if it was, it would be available equitably to all countries.
The first part of that hope was realized – the development and approval of several safe and effective vaccines in record time has given the world real hope of bringing the pandemic under control.
But I don’t need to tell you that the distribution of vaccines has been terribly unfair. We’re all disappointed by the injustice.
I am speaking to you from Rome, as I said earlier, where yesterday I addressed the G20 Health Ministers’ meeting.
I said that we must never again allow a pandemic on this scale.
And that we must never again allow an injustice on this scale.
As you know, there have been several reviews of the global response to the pandemic, with many recommendations for how to strengthen pandemic preparedness and response.
But the one that we think could make the biggest difference is a treaty or other international agreement on pandemic preparedness and response, which will provide a much-needed foundation for global cooperation, setting the rules of the game for a more coherent and coordinated response to future epidemics and pandemics.
We seek the support of all SEARO countries for this idea, as we prepare for the Special Session of the World Health Assembly in November.
Excellencies,
Thank you all for your continued support, and your continued efforts to respond to the pandemic and to safeguard the health of your people.
I assure you all that you have WHO’s ongoing full support, as we work together to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable.
I thank you. Dhanyabad.