Mr Chairperson;
Honourable ministers;
Representatives from Member States and partner agencies;
Colleagues, ladies and gentlemen:
Hafa Adai! Good afternoon and welcome to the sixty-sixth session of the World Health Organization Regional Committee for the Western Pacific.
I would like to thank the Government and the people of Guam and the United States of America for hosting this session of the Regional Committee.
The last time the Regional Committee was held in Guam was 1972. Our Chairman Mr Gillan helped coordinate at that session 43 years ago — even though he was apparently only eight years old at the time!
Joking aside, it is a good year for us to meet in the Pacific — on the 20th birthday of the Healthy Islands vision.
Pacific health ministers reaffirmed their commitment to this vision earlier this year at their meeting in Fiji. They pledged to address the Pacific's NCD crisis and monitor progress towards creating a truly healthy environment.
Since the first meeting of ministers in 1995, Pacific islands have made impressive strides in health. Child survival rates have improved, and life expectancy has risen.
During the same time, TB deaths have been reduced by two thirds, as the Pacific has remained polio free and made progress against neglected tropical diseases.
Our work in the Pacific is one of the many priorities I will mention today.
As the Regional Director, I report to Member States on advances in health and well-being every year at this time.
All of you have received my detailed report — The Work of WHO in the Western Pacific Region — on the achievements of the previous year. You will notice the new format is more reader-friendly.
Overall, we have worked to strengthen health systems throughout the Region. We have seen measurable declines in communicable diseases, while we continue to address the risk factors of noncommunicable disease, the Region's number one killer.
During the past year, three countries were verified as having eliminated measles — Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia and Japan. Now seven countries and areas have been verified.
American Samoa reduced hepatitis B prevalence to less than 1% among 5-year-olds — it is now one of 12 countries or areas in the Region to reach the 2017 target.
Cambodia was verified as having eliminated maternal and neonatal tetanus. Meanwhile, Niue, Palau and Vanuatu have sought validation of the elimination of lymphatic filariasis as a public health problem.
In light of the threat posed by multidrug-resistant malaria, WHO and Member States in the Mekong developed a subregional malaria elimination strategy. The operations hub in Cambodia continues to play a key role in coordinating efforts to tackle multidrug resistance in the Greater Mekong Subregion.
Across the Region, antimicrobial resistance — or AMR —continues to be a priority. The regional action agenda on antimicrobial resistance — which was endorsed last year — is already yielding results.
Fiji, Samoa and Mongolia started developing multisectoral national action plans to combat AMR last year. Meanwhile, national plans and policies on AMR are being finalized in Australia, Cambodia, Viet Nam and the Philippines.
To strengthen health systems, we have supported the development of national policies and plans in Cambodia, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Mongolia and Solomon Islands.
We have also supported high-level policy dialogues in Cambodia, China and Viet Nam — as well as reviews of national health plans in several Pacific and Mekong countries. Our large network of collaborating centres gathered for the first-ever regional forum in November 2014. Nearly 200 representatives from 135 centres in the Region met to share experiences and strengthen partnership at the Regional Office. The event was a shining example of effective collaboration and cooperation to build capacity in the Region.
In eight countries across the Region, more than 400 health facilities with an estimated 10 000 health providers have been implementing WHO's Early Essential Newborn Care, also known as the First Embrace.
These simple low-cost measures save young lives — which is particularly important in our Region, where newborn babies account for half of all child deaths.
Another life-saving initiative — the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control — is also enjoying remarkable uptake across the Region.
This past year, the Republic of Korea raised taxes on tobacco products and is expected to add graphic health warnings on cigarette packs next year. Fiji, Solomon Islands and Samoa all recently joined the long list of countries that have added warnings.
Cambodia recently enacted comprehensive anti-tobacco legislation. This past year tobacco taxes were also increased in seven Pacific island countries and areas — Cook Islands, Fiji, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Tonga. But the biggest news on tobacco control came from China, a country that consumes one third of the world's cigarettes.
Beijing — the capital city of 20 million — enacted a comprehensive ban on smoking in all indoor public places in June. The measure is especially important because it reduces non-smokers' exposure to deadly second-hand smoke.
Of the million tobacco-related deaths each year in China, second-hand smoke claims 100 000 lives — mostly women and children. We hope other Asian megacities follow Beijing's example.
Indeed, the past year has been a busy one for public health in the Region and globally.
But perhaps no crisis has shaken the global sense of health security more than the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
Although we did not have a single case in the Western Pacific Region, we still played a key role in helping to manage the outbreak.
We initiated a team approach called the Western Pacific Regional Ebola Support Team — known as WEST. WHO staff and experts from Member States supported the global response on the ground.
In fact, several Member States are still providing financial resources and expertise and support on the ground.
As you know, the Western Pacific Region faces more than its fair share of outbreaks and natural hazards. We have many experiences and lessons to offer the rest of WHO and the global community.
This past year, another prominent infectious disease outbreak occurred in our Region – namely the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, also known as MERS. Ebola and MERS serve as painful reminders that pathogens can travel rapidly across borders and that outbreaks can occur in the most unexpected places. Ebola took everyone by surprise when it appeared in West Africa, where health systems were weak, and preparedness and the capacity to respond were minimal. By contrast, the MERS outbreak in the Republic of Korea demonstrated that vulnerability is universal. Even a sophisticated health system with high capacity can be caught off guard when an infectious disease strikes.
We have been examining these outbreaks and reviewing progress in the Asia Pacific Strategy for Emerging Diseases — called APSED — and the International Health Regulations.
In this way, we can ensure that we are as prepared as possible for the next outbreak.
In fact, an evaluation of APSED this year noted strong progress in the development and strengthening of national surveillance and response systems in the Region.
APSED implementation began in 2006. Before that time, Member States in the Region did not do systematic event-based surveillance.
As of 2013, more than nine out of ten Member States reported having units dedicated to event-based surveillance — which is crucial to early detection and response to outbreaks and emergencies.
The evaluation also called for updates to the strategy to guide future actions, based on critical lessons from Ebola, MERS and other public health emergencies.
In the Western Pacific Region, we are already translating those lessons into action.
We are assisting countries to implement the next phase of APSED and meet International Health Regulations. You will hear more about this important process in progress reports and side events this week.
Just a few weeks ago, I was in New York — along with some of you — at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit for the adoption of the SDGs.
These goals are an ambitious promise to the world on the 70th birthday of the United Nations.
Progress towards some of these goals will depend on WHO — as the global authority on health AND the largest United Nations agency — to assist Member States in improving health outcomes.
The Western Pacific Region has experienced rapid development and unprecedented economic growth. The Region's experiences provide insight on the many unintended consequences of development — such as unplanned urbanization, climate change and road safety, to name a few.
This week, we will address several of the Region's health challenges with action plans to be considered by the Regional Committee. For the first time, we will move beyond healthy settings to address the larger issue of urban health on our agenda.
We will also discuss specific pathways towards universal health coverage for Member States.
This regional action framework – Universal Health Coverage: Moving Towards Better Health – will have broad implications for our ability to address many health challenges in the future.
Two other action plans address items that cause untold death and hardship in the Region: viral hepatitis and violence and injuries.
Individually, viral hepatitis and violence and injuries each claim more lives in the Region than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis all combined.
This year, we will also discuss the regional implementation of the global strategy to end tuberculosis.
We will provide updates on many WHO technical programmes corresponding to previous Regional Committee resolutions — such as food safety, neglected tropical diseases, ageing and health, NCD prevention and control and strengthening regulatory systems.
These progress reports are important. As you know, our work does not end when we develop regional strategies or action plans. It only begins at that point.
To better serve Member States, we are changing how we operate at WHO.
We are evaluating the Organization's global role and reforming to better respond to Member States' needs, especially in times of emergency.
We know that our response to health emergencies must be a well-oiled machine — a well-managed series of steps that stem death and destruction.
When all is said and done, we must help Member States to recover stronger and more resilient from disasters and outbreaks.
To accomplish this, we must focus on the importance of working across sectors, across borders and across societies — bridging gaps in information and understanding with solid collaboration.
By building relationships and systems in calm times, we will be better prepared to perform in crises.
Ebola showed us — once again, and once and for all — that we must have a unified response to global health threats, no matter what they are or where they occur.
No one organization or person can do it alone.
But working together, we have shown that we can make rapid but real improvements in the health and well-being of the Region's 1.8 billion people.
Together, we will ensure that the Western Pacific Region is able to overcome whatever health challenges the future holds.
Thank you.