Partners, Associates, Colleagues and Friends,
Good morning.
I am pleased to welcome you to this regional workshop today, the fifth meeting in the series that we conduct every two years.
It is the collective vision that we share which has brought us here today. We want our South-East Asia Region to be free of vaccine-preventable diseases. We want our Member States to provide equitable access to immunization services and vaccines, throughout the life course. We want these vaccines to be high-quality, safe and affordable.
Overwhelming evidence tells us that immunization is one of the most successful and cost-effective health interventions ever known. It has a return on investment of an estimated 54 US dollars, for every one US dollar spent.
Over the past several decades, immunization has achieved many milestones, including the eradication of smallpox. This accomplishment is one of humanity’s greatest triumphs.
Vaccines save lives. In the last one decade alone, an estimated 23 million lives have been saved. Vaccines have contributed to a 24% reduction in under-5 mortalities and lowered polio by 99%. They have reduced illness, disability and death from diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, measles and more.
We have eliminated maternal and neonatal tetanus from our Region and eliminated measles and rubella from five Member States.
We have also been able to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic with one of the sharpest recoveries of immunization programs across the world.
We should not forget that high vaccination coverage, along life course, accelerates progress towards the SDGs, directly contributing to 14 out of 17 of the goals.
We still need to identify pockets of unvaccinated children and prevent future outbreaks by assessing immunity gaps. For this, we need well performing real-time disease surveillance information. Such a system is a key part of public-health decision making.
There is an urgent need to strengthen existing vaccine preventable disease surveillance with the latest technologies, at subnational and national levels. This requires a substantial and long-term commitment of human and material resources.
I know I need not remind you that we have resolved to achieve various immunization targets, as laid out in the “Regional Vaccine Implementation Plan 2022-2026.” This is, of course, the regional translation of the global Immunization Agenda 2023.
Optimally implementing this Regional Plan will require high level commitment, and the determination of the Expanded Program on Immunization and the surveillance programmes in each of our countries. It will also require support from national and international partners, and the immunization technical advisory groups.
Each one of you here has worked to set the stage for a well performing immunization system, and a good surveillance system.
I would like to ask our colleagues from our Member States and partners to work with us as we strengthen surveillance systems for priority vaccine-preventable diseases - especially measles, rubella, and polio.
I trust that you want the same as me.
We want the deliberations here to lead to the development of well-thought-out actions, and their implementation plans.
We want to ensure high quality surveillance.
We want better preparedness for outbreak response.
We want the use of newer tools and technologies, and we want to exchange good practices across the Region.
In the spirit of Universal Health Coverage, we all want every family - no matter where they live - to have access to immunization and the health services of their government.
I look forward for the technical report, and the way forward identified by this meeting, including where WHO can better support the programme.
I wish you productive deliberations, and a very pleasant stay in Colombo.
Thank you.