Good afternoon participants and partners, colleagues and friends, and welcome to this seventh meeting of the South-East Asia Region Technical Advisory Group (SEAR-TAG) on women’s and children’s health.
Since 2014 the Region’s Flagship Priority on ending preventable mortality among women, newborns and children has accelerated Region-wide progress to achieve the unfinished agenda of the Millennium Development Goals – a mission that is almost accomplished.
Throughout that journey, this SEAR-TAG has provided Member States and partners actionable advice to accelerate progress towards applicable Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets. Such targets include:
First, by 2030, reducing the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100 000 live births.
Second, by 2030, ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services.
And third, by 2030, ending preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5 years of age.
Underwriting these targets is of course target 3.8, on achieving universal health coverage (UHC) – another of our Flagship Priorities.
In its first two meetings, this SEAR-TAG deliberated on strategies to accelerate progress on the third of these targets – ending preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5 years of age.
In subsequent meetings, the TAG focused on the first and second of these targets, addressing key areas of action throughout the life-course, such as adolescent health, maternal health, stillbirths, and sexual and reproductive health.
In this seventh SEAR-TAG meeting, you will revisit newborn and child mortality, reviewing the Region’s many achievements, while considering how best we can drive additional and accelerated gains.
You have tremendous progress to build on.
Between 2010 and 2019, the Region reduced its neonatal mortality rate by 30%, compared with 21% globally.
The Region reduced its under-5 mortality rate by 39%, compared with 26% globally.
Hundreds of thousands of lives have been saved – lives that you have contributed to saving.
And still our mission continues.
In 2019 an estimated 1.1 million children in the Region – including 0.7 million newborns – died, accounting for 29% of global newborn deaths and 21% of child deaths.
At the current annual rate of reduction, estimates suggest that India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Timor-Leste are unlikely to reach the 2030 neonatal mortality rate target.
Myanmar and Timor-Leste are unlikely to reach the under-5 mortality rate target.
While the Region is likely to meet the 2030 target for under-5 mortality, it is unlikely to meet the target for neonatal mortality, missing by just one point.
But I put it to you: With accelerated, high-impact action, that point can be regained.
For example, although coverage in the Region of evidence-based interventions has in aggregate increased, there remains wide variation not only between countries, but within them, mostly caused by social and economic disparities.
In all countries of the Region, addressing those inequities will provide a massive boost.
Another key accelerator is enhancing quality of care – an accelerator that this TAG has long emphasized.
Together, we must continue to highlight the need to strengthen implementation of the Point of Care Quality Improvement approach – a task that our Region has excelled in thus far.
The battle against COVID-19 has been long and hard, and very much continues.
Through it all, you have provided outstanding support to countries in their efforts to maintain essential health services, including for reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health.
I give my special thanks to partner agencies and professional associations, many of whom are with us today.
While we do not yet know the pandemic’s full impact on newborn and child mortality, we can be certain that an impact there has been.
The latest UN estimates, based on national data for 2020, will be released by year-end, and will inform our activities and projections moving forward.
I take this opportunity to commend Member States for their commitment to catch up on pre-pandemic progress, and to build back better essential health services to achieve UHC and the health-related SDGs, as highlighted in a landmark resolution unanimously adopted at the Seventy-fourth session of the Regional Committee in September.
I express my sincere thanks to all SEAR-TAG Members, and to Professor V K Paul, TAG Chair, for his able, ongoing and inspiring leadership.
I am certain that through coming deliberations, this SEAR-TAG will continue to provide an invaluable service to all countries of the Region, and to all women and children therein.
I wish you a successful meeting, reiterate WHO’s full support, and look forward to your recommendations.
Thank you.