Your Excellency, Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, Hon’ble Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India; Your Excellency, Mr Ahmed Naseem, Hon’ble Minister of Health, Government of Maldives, Hon’ble Ministers of Health and Heads of Delegation from across the Region; Shri Sudhansh Pant, Secretary, and Dr Manashvi Kumar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India; Distinguished delegates, partners and friends,
Good morning and welcome to this Seventy-sixth Session of the WHO Regional Committee for South-East Asia, which it is a pleasure to host here in New Delhi, in what has been an immense, transformative year for India’s global health leadership.
My sincere and abiding gratitude to you, Excellency Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, and to the entire Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Government of India for all your support.
My thanks also to the Director General, who it will be a pleasure to welcome back to our Region following the tremendous success in August of the inaugural WHO Global Summit on Traditional Medicine and his leadership at the three high-level events on health at the UN General Assembly in New York.
And my utmost thanks to all Excellencies and delegates who are with us today, as together – at this meeting and beyond – we continue to pursue the Right of every person in the Region to the highest attainable standard of health.
Excellencies,
This year is a year of transition.
First, in May, WHO declared an end to the COVID-19 emergency, the deadliest, most disruptive health crisis in more than a century. Since then, we have called for a global shift to routine management of the disease, while urging countries to strengthen key aspects of the response, such as genomic sequencing, surveillance, and with a focus on preparedness for any such event in future.
Second, it is the final year in which together we implement the Region’s eight Flagship Priority Programmes, which Excellencies and I identified in 2014, and which have defined my two-term tenure as Regional Director, along with our ‘Sustain. Accelerate. Innovate’ vision. My heartfelt gratitude for your support.
And third, in 2023, we find ourselves deep in the second half – almost the final third – of the Sustainable Development Goal era, and must therefore accelerate rapid, equitable and sustained progress towards our targets and goals, ensuring that as a Region, we tip the balance towards global success.
But in a year of transition, the Director General has led us to return to our roots, celebrating 75 years of WHO’s efforts to protect, promote and support health and well-being globally and in the South-East Asia Region.
And let us recall: Our Region was the first WHO region to be established, and the first WHO region to provide direct country support, which today is the orienting focus of the Organization.
It has been a year of transition – yes, but a year also of transformation.
Bhutan began country-wide implementation of its Service with Care and Compassion Initiative, an award-winning adaptation of the WHO Package of essential noncommunicable disease (NCD) interventions for primary health care (PHC).
Bangladesh eliminated lymphatic filariasis as a public health problem, making it the fourth country in the Region since 2016 to achieve this milestone – a magnificent victory for the poor, the marginalized and those at risk.
DPR Korea rebuilt its nationwide disease prevention and control network, guided by a newly reformed National Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
India operationalized more than 150 000 Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centres and also received the 2022 UN Interagency Task Force and WHO Special Programme on PHC award for its Hypertension Control Initiative, which has now treated more than 4 million people.
Indonesia launched a revised strategic plan for health system transformation, focused on accelerating PHC orientation, which is one of two core pillars of the Region’s Build Back Better vision.
Maldives initiated the Faafu Atoll PHC Demonstration Site, showcasing the successful integration of NCD care into primary health care.
Myanmar updated its guidelines for drug-sensitive and drug-resistant TB, as well as for TB preventive treatment and community-based TB care.
Nepal became the first country of the Region to introduce Typhoid Conjugate Vaccine into routine immunization, expanding not just coverage but also protection.
Sri Lanka carried out rapid, strategic and coherent action to limit the impact of medicines and medical product shortages, while at the same time mobilizing community engagement against outbreaks of COVID-19 and dengue.
Thailand became one of several countries globally to begin implementing WHO’s new Obesity Acceleration Plan, and as part of this, introduced draft legislation to restrict the marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages to children.
Timor-Leste fully restored routine immunization services, and has now achieved rubella elimination. It also introduced a five-fold increase in taxation of tobacco products.
These are tremendous achievements, of which we can be immensely proud.
But you will agree: They are achievements that are by no means piecemeal, but are rather connected to a greater whole, an outgrowth of a deeply held strategic vision and culture that together, over the past decade and beyond, we have created.
A vision and culture that prioritizes robust, strategically sound and evidence-informed planning;
That sets ambitious but achievable targets and goals, for measurable impact;
That fosters collaborative, outcome-oriented partnerships that avoid duplication and fragmentation;
That mobilizes the highest level of political, multisectoral and community commitment and support;
A vision and culture that above all strives to advance the health and well-being not of some, or even many people, but of all people, everywhere.
And let me reiterate: Of the 270 million additional people projected to be covered by universal health coverage over the course of WHO’s Thirteenth General Programme of Work, 110 million – more than 40% – are from our Region.
Excellencies,
Today, as we embark on this Seventy-sixth Session of the Regional Committee, let us choose unity, dignity, courage and action.
Let us rise to the moment, put pen to paper, and begin writing the next chapter of the Region’s health and development story – a story that will shape the destiny of our Region, more than one fourth of humanity.
Thank you.