Professor Keizo Takemi; Hon’ble Parliamentarians; my esteemed colleague Dr Takeshi Kasai; dear Forum members,
A very good afternoon.
The opportunity to address this Forum is very much appreciated, and I thank Dr Takemi for organizing it.
For several months now, Asia Pacific – that is, the WHO South-East Asia Region and the Western Pacific Region – has aggressively and urgently responded to COVID-19.
From the very beginning of the outbreak, WHO emphasized the critical need for countries to adopt a whole-of-government, whole-of-society approach to preparing for and responding to the disease.
The Region’s Member States have mobilized accordingly, and have had significant success in limiting transmission to identifiable hot-spots and clusters.
This is despite the Region having all the ingredients for explosive transmission, from its large, densely packed urban areas to challenges with regard to housing, water and mobile populations.
Arguably, the comparatively slow spread of COVID-19 within the Region is due to the early and robust physical distancing measures that Member States implemented. In the absence of widespread political and administrative support, such measures could not have been implemented, much less complied with.
I thank parliamentarians for their support and engagement, which will be especially needed as Member States plan for the next phase. You are acutely aware that physical distancing alone is no solution, and that you will need to take the fight to the virus.
To do that, the national preparedness and response plans that WHO and its Member States developed will be crucial. So too will be the strategy update that WHO published last week. The update identifies a clear set of priorities to help countries control and suppress transmission, with the aim of reaching and/or maintaining a steady state of low-level or no transmission.
I urge this Forum to help familiarize and engage parliamentarians on these plans and strategies as part of its ongoing mission in these exceptional times.
Beyond the immediate response, however, there are two key areas of impact I wish to highlight.
First, the role parliamentarians can have in ensuring essential health services continue to function. In previous outbreaks, we have seen that the increase in deaths from common diseases can be greater than the number of deaths from the disease that is being responded to. The Region has in recent years made remarkable progress in a range of areas – from vaccine-preventable diseases to maternal and child mortality – and we cannot afford for it to be set back or reversed.
Given that parliamentarians are familiar with national health priorities, and have significant health policy experience, they are well positioned to help ensure essential services are maintained, and to thereby protect and defend our progress. I encourage this Forum to mobilize parliamentarians accordingly, and to disseminate WHO’s recently published guidelines on this vital need.
Second, parliamentarians can make positive contributions to policy on the many factors that impact health, such as trade, industry, finance, education, agriculture and population movement. This crisis goes well beyond the immediate threat of the virus, and will contribute to a range of health risks, from malnutrition due to food insecurity to the mental health impact of unemployment and diminished economic prospects.
Parliamentarians must be encouraged to marshal the full weight of their knowledge and expertise to get behind national responses. At this unprecedented moment, all countries must come together to identify and develop policy solutions that address the many issues they face, and which will enable them to deal with COVID-19 for as long as they need to.
Solidarity is not only a moral good; it is an operational imperative.
I once again thank this Forum for its critically important work. I urge you to continue to leverage the talent and skill of parliamentarians as part of our comprehensive, whole-of-government, whole-of-society approach to combating COVID-19.
Thank you.