8 August 2024
Vientiane, Lao People's Democratic Republic
Honourable Chair
Honourable Ministers,
Distinguished delegates, Partners
Ladies and gentlemen,
Sabaidee and Good afternoon to you all.
It is a great honour and privilege for me to be here with you today. Thank you chair for the warm welcome and your hospitality.
I have met many of you already, when you graciously welcomed me to your individual countries, during my official visits after I assumed the Regional Director post of WHO’s Western Pacific Region in February this year.
Let me thank you again, for the warmest of receptions and encouraging partnership.
And I look forward to getting to know the other health leaders in this Region as we work together on our many shared priorities.
Together with me today, to represent my dear colleague, RD Saima Wazed, is the Director of Programme Management (SEARO) Dr Mek, appreciates this opportunity of sharing our thoughts with you, on our plans for collaboration for the Region.
As this is my first ASEAN Health Ministers Meeting in this role, congratulations on your 57th Anniversary. I am keenly aware that I am a new guest. And you know guests should be quick to listen and slow to speak.
But if you allow me, however, I would like to draw on my own experience as former Health Minister, and on WHO’s long partnership in this Region, to reflect on two words, as we mark the end of the current ASEAN Health Development Agenda and look towards the period after 2025.
The first word I would like to reflect on is: urgency.
My colleagues, we are gathering at a critical point in our collective efforts, to ensure the highest standards of health and well-being for the people in our Region. We have five years remaining to achieve our globally agreed commitments to the Sustainable Development Goals.
And I say this with great humility and shared accountability when I say that we are, collectively, missing the mark.
WHO’s own benchmarks reflect this, as do the excellent analyses coming out of ASEAN including, for example, the March statistical brief on progress towards Universal Health Coverage, which shows uneven and incremental improvements.
We know too well the reasons why:
COVID-19, which was a body blow to our efforts, to scale up progress, and which undercut years of gains in areas like childhood immunization.
Continued accelerated rates of ageing, as true in this Region as any, in which the share of elderly in the population is eclipsing the share of productive working age populations.
Health challenges that increasingly exist on the extremes:
• Double burdens of malnutrition on the one hand, and overweight and obesity on the other:
• Under-vaccination early in life, alongside expanded vaccination in adolescence and for the elderly:
• Under diagnosis and persisting low treatment rates for preventable diseases of the last century, alongside demands for personalized high-tech immunotherapies.
Our health systems are straining to respond and risk bifurcating into two-tier health systems—one for the haves, and another for the have-nots.
And add to this, the rapidly accelerating health burdens associated with climate change — resurgence of infectious diseases and the need to ensure health systems can anticipate, prevent and respond to outbreaks when and where they happen. This requires intensive cross border collaboration and effective health leadership in multisector discussions on One Health and climate resilience.
Again, I speak to you as a former health minister. I know just how much is required, to achieve each incremental increase towards one of our collective goals.
I know that the effort is not truly measured in graphs on a page, but in the countless hours, dedication, innovation and commitment by the legions of health officials and health care workers in the communities we serve.
And now, as Regional Director, every report and analysis that indicates we have not yet met our shared goal, is a direct challenge to me and my colleagues at WHO, to work harder and smarter to support you.
And so, my colleagues, what does this mean for us? How do we move forward with a sense of urgency, in order to meet the goals, we have set before us?
As we consider our collective priorities post-2025, let me observe that the question is not so much ‘what’, as it is ‘how’.
Our shared objectives post-2025 are clear. We must build on the progress made in the four health clusters of the current Health Development Agenda and align with the commitments we’ve made under WHO’s GPW 14 and our respective regional priorities.
Looking to 2025, we share a commitment to transformative primary care for Universal Health Coverage, climate resilient, responsive health systems, and resilient health communities and societies, healthier people throughout the life course, and technology and innovation for equity, in order to advance health outcomes in our Region.
I encourage us instead, to focus our discussions on the next five years on the ‘how’. For example:
• How can we harness data and innovation, to dramatically improve and accelerate the scale of our achievements?
• How can we invite the voices of the vulnerable and underserved, to ensure that health outcomes are achieved for all populations?
• How can we better lead in multi-sectoral settings, so that people are better protected from air pollution, unsafe working conditions, road injuries, violence and harmful products?
And most importantly — how can WHO support you? You and your teams are best placed to know how WHO can enhance, deepen or accelerate the work you are already doing. You have my commitment that our first mission at WPRO is to ensure WHO is providing you the types of support when, where and how you need it.
This brings me to the second word I wanted to reflect on today, which is: opportunity.
It is true, the challenge is daunting. It is also true that this Region has an incredible opportunity to demonstrate what is possible.
This Region is one of the most innovative and dynamic regions in the world. As we speak, this Region is defying global trends with robust increases in foreign direct investment, fueling a post-COVID recovery almost unheard of in other regions.
Time and again, this Region has faced enormous challenges — from SARS and COVID-19, to relentless natural disasters and weather events, to rapid and sometimes breakneck economic and social shifts. Time and again, this Region has come together to collectively achieve remarkable outcomes.
I am pleased to let you know that WPRO have started our research centre to promote and support the development of environmental health policies and programmes in the Asia-Pacific region though the WHO Asia-Pacific Centre for Environment and Health (WHO-ACE) supported by the Republic of Korea.
Together with ASEAN Member States, we can have better focus of addressing environmental health issues such as air pollution, water and sanitation, and climate change, and work to build the capacity of countries in the Region to address these challenges.
Also, under the banner of the Asia Pacific Health Security Action Framework – APHSAF, WHO together with ASEAN will work to ensure technical consistency to build core capacities among countries in the Region, for managing public health emergencies in line with global expectations as per the International Health Regulations.
I am motivated by a sense of urgency and encouraged by what is possible. Your countries have demonstrated commitment and leadership in addressing various health challenges and emergencies. The people in this Region have shown resilience and solidarity in supporting each other.
Hence, I am very eager to work together with you in the next five years to ensure health and well-being for all our people.
As Helen Keller once said, “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much”.
Da Vinci once said “Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough we must do”. But Nike said – Just do it, why? Because we can do it.
My dear colleagues, I thank you for this opportunity, and I look forward to a stronger collaboration with all of you to serve our Member States.