*Errors and omissions excepted (E&OE)
Honourable Jacques Raynal, Minister of Health of French Polynesia
Honourable Ministers
Ladies and gentlemen
Ia Orana, good morning!
It really is a great pleasure to be here with you on this beautiful island for the 13th Pacific Health Ministers Meeting.
On behalf of the World Health Organization, I would like to thank the Government of French Polynesia for hosting us here in Pape’ete this week – to take another step on the journey towards the Healthy Islands vision.
I really admire and respect the Healthy Islands vision which Pacific Ministers adopted in the Yanuca declaration in 1995. It encapsulated many of the principles which are now at the heart of the Sustainable Development Goals – including the fundamental link between health, environment, development and sustainability. In many respects, you were twenty years ahead of the rest of the world.
But that vision is under threat today. A case in point is climate change. Extreme weather events and other changes to the environment are affecting food security, housing, and the availability of safe drinking water. What I saw in the South Tarawa is the Pacific version of unplanned urbanization that puts ecological capacity under pressure.
This is also an issue I know Dr Tedros is personally committed to – and I sincerely thank him for his leadership in putting the impacts of climate change on small island states, firmly on the global health agenda.
Speaking of Dr Tedros, you have no doubt noticed his absence this morning. It is extremely unfortunate that there were issues with his flights and he wasn’t able to arrive last night. Our fingers are crossed that he’ll arrive on the 4pm flight today and be able to join the last few minutes of the meeting.
We know that climate change is a complex challenge, with health at the end of the causal path. This often excludes health from the mainstream discussions on climate change.
And I worry that our time is running out to take action – both on the health threats we already see from climate change today, and for future generations.
As WHO Regional Director, I am absolutely committed to working together to address the health impacts of climate change – and ensuring that health is at the centre of the regional and global climate change agenda. I look forward to our discussions on the topic this afternoon.
But it is not only climate change that threatens progress towards the Healthy Islands Vision.
While economic development has created opportunities for better lives that many people could not have imagined a generation ago – they have also created new health challenges.
Changing diets – which themselves are in part shaped by the impacts of climate change on food security – as well as lower levels of physical activity have led to an increase in noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). I know is a concern for all of the Ministers here.
There is also the ever-present risk of health security including natural disasters, as you know all too well.
At the same time, many countries are still facing a significant burden of disease from “traditional” health threats, including infectious diseases and infant and maternal mortality.
In the face of all of these challenges, a ‘business as usual’ approach by WHO will not be good enough. Many of you have told me that very clearly over the past six months.
The new Global Programme of Work – GPW13 – developed under Dr Tedros’s leadership, proposes a series of strategic shifts for WHO’s work
In the 6 months that I have served as Regional Director, I have been lucky to travel to several countries in the Pacific and discuss the priorities and ideas outlined in our White Paper with you personally.
With GPW13 as its foundation, this Paper outlines a series of ideas about how we can work differently in this Region to address the health challenges of today, and tomorrow – recognising that they are unprecedented in scale and complexity.
I believe that addressing the challenges we face will require greater creativity, more innovation and stronger partnerships than ever before.
While we face challenges like long distances in the Pacific, there are also opportunities. Small countries for example, may be able to more easily bring relevant sectors together to make decisions that will protect and promote the health of our populations. Many of you have already done this in the area of tobacco legislation and control.
There is also a great deal of wisdom and ingenuity in solutions developed on the ground, as I have seen often during my travels here in the Pacific. We can do better at tapping into local wisdom and sharing lessons learned. This is at the heart of our ‘grounds up’ idea – or ‘corals up’, as one Pacific country told me it should be!
And the idea of ‘backcasting’ – designing your ideal future state, and working backwards to achieve it – is very familiar to all of you. The Healthy Islands vision is a perfect example of this. And the approach will help us to tailor our support to the specific priorities and concerns of each country and area.
Honourable Ministers, I am very much looking forward to the discussions this week on the range of very important topics on the agenda.
I said at the start of my speech that Pacific Ministers were talking about health and sustainable development long before the rest of the world, and I am confident that on climate change, the Pacific can lead again. You can lead both on mitigation and adaptation, and on engaging with other sectors to ensure that health is at the centre of every climate change discussion.
I think the Healthy Islands Vision is more valuable than ever, considering our complex and dynamically changing world. Also, health is increasingly recognized as an investment – and we must not miss the opportunity to tap into, and build on this.
Honourable Ministers, thank you again for inviting me to speak this morning. It is a privilege to be here with you this week as you take another step towards the Healthy Islands vision. WHO is fully committed to continuing to support you in your individual and shared journeys towards this vision.
Thank you very much.