Partners, colleagues and friends,
Good morning.
I am pleased to join this important workshop, even though it is virtually.
I would like to begin by extending, on behalf of WHO’s South-East Asia Regional Office, greetings to the APSR Secretariat and all participants of this workshop, and our appreciation for your commitment to respiratory health.
As we all know, the Big 5 lung diseases - Asthma, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, Acute Lower Respiratory Infections, Lung Cancer, and Tuberculosis - remain a significant public health challenge across our region. They stalk the most vulnerable among us, often where access to care is limited.
The burden of these diseases is exacerbated by risk factors well known to us: indoor and outdoor air pollution; second-hand smoke; occupational exposures; overcrowded living conditions; poor nutrition, and more. When combined with limited access to quality health care, the consequences are often devastating and deadly.
These risks fall disproportionately on the poor and the vulnerable. Addressing the Big 5 lung diseases and their risk factors is not only a matter of health – it is a matter of equity and social justice.
This demands engagement across many sectors- education, energy and environment; labour and housing; local government and rural development.
Strengthening linkages across sectors through an integrated approach, with primary health care at its core, is critical to achieving Universal Health Coverage and the health-related targets of SDG 3
WHO South-East Asia Regional Office is committed to supporting Member States for strengthening respiratory health.
Our strategic priorities, under the Primary Health Care Approach, include:
Enhancing early diagnosis and disease management;
Promoting equitable access to essential services and medicines; and
Building resilient health systems that can respond to both communicable and non-communicable respiratory conditions.
To achieve these priorities, we need to
Incorporate new technologies - such as AI-supported chest X-rays- to enhance access/quality of screening and early diagnosis;
Integrate routine lung health screening for priority diseases;
Strengthen laboratories and supply chains for equitable access to medicine; and
Address social determinants, including nutrition and smoking.
Advancing these priorities and actions aligns with WHO South-East Asia’s Regional Roadmap for Results and Resilience.
This workshop, and the broader Congress underway, also align closely with our goals under the End TB Strategy, Universal Health Coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals
The work that you are doing here—the sharing of knowledge, experiences and lessons learned—will deepen partnership and collaboration between our organizations, countries, and regions.
I thank you again for your dedication to the cause of healthier lungs and healthier lives for all those whom we serve.
I wish you all a constructive and productive workshop, and the Asia Pacific Society of Respirology a successful 29th Congress.
Thank you.