Honourable Ministers;
Distinguished Representatives;
Dr Shin Young-soo, Regional Director, WHO Western Pacific Region;
Representatives of agencies of the United Nations, intergovernmental organizations and nongovernmental organizations;
Distinguished colleagues, ladies and gentlemen:
Welcome, again, to Brisbane.
Thank you for your trust and confidence in electing me to chair this sixty-eighth session of the WHO Regional Committee for the Western Pacific.
I thank the outgoing Chairperson, the Honourable Minister of Health from Malaysia, and other officers of the last session. I will do my best to live up to their fine example and to manage our programme well.
Australia looks to WHO as the pre-eminent leader in global health. We greatly value the work of WHO especially in this Region. Australia takes its responsibilities as a WHO Member State very seriously, and so we are very proud to be hosting this session of the Regional Committee for the Western Pacific here in Brisbane this week.
Last year the Committee discussed the impact of the environment and environmental change on health. Brisbane and the State of Queensland are no strangers to the effects of climate on health – with frequent experience of extreme weather events, and the impacts those have on people and communities. It is fitting, therefore, that we are meeting in Brisbane this week to carry on this Committee’s work.
Distinguished colleagues:
We heard yesterday afternoon the excellent report of the Regional Director on the progress that has been towards better health in the Region over the past 12 months. Thank you, Dr Shin, for your leadership and the hard work of all of your staff.
We have a packed agenda before us this week, including seven technical agenda items. Allow me to provide a brief overview of these items now.
First, measles and rubella elimination. Measles is one of the most contagious and devastating infectious diseases. Fourteen years ago, in 2003, this Committee took action to eliminate measles – endorsing a plan of action and subsequently setting 2012 as the target year for elimination.
By 2012, the Region had achieved an historically low incidence of measles, though the goal of elimination was not met. In the time since then, we have seen a resurgence in cases across the Region – resulting in, on average, around 60,000 people infected with measles every year.
At the same time, several thousand babies are born with congenital rubella syndrome in the Western Pacific Region every year. Rubella is a devastating disease when it occurs in pregnant women and is passed on to their babies.
Clearly we are facing some new challenges in our goal of eliminating both of these diseases – so it is time for a renewed approach and commitment, which is proposed in the new Regional Strategy and Plan of Action for measles and rubella elimination before us this week.
Next, we will discuss protecting children from the harmful impact of food marketing. Good nutrition and lifestyle habits early in life set the foundation for health and well-being throughout life. Yet more than 6.2 million children under 5 years of age in the Western Pacific Region are overweight or obese.
Wider availability of cheaper foods high in salt, free sugars and fats is driving the increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity. Exposure to aggressive marketing of these foods contributes to the problem.
Widespread promotion of breast-milk substitutes is also contributing to the increase in nutritional problems in children. More can be done to protect and promote breastfeeding, including through implementation of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes.
This is a complex and challenging issue. The background paper we will consider this week presents the evidence to support a more rigorous approach to restrictions on food marketing to children. Member States will also consider a resolution to develop a regional action plan on this issue.
Our third technical agenda item concerns health promotion in the Sustainable Development Goals. Health promotion is about equipping and empowering individuals and communities to take charge of their own health.
Health promotion is an important tool for improving individuals’ and communities’ health – and as such it can be an important tool for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
The proposed Regional Action Plan on Health Promotion in the Sustainable Development Goals 2018–2030 articulates four practical approaches to improving health literacy, and supporting better informed decisions on health and development: first, mainstreaming health promotion and healthy settings; second, accelerating action to expand the scope and reach of health promotion; third, providing policy support; and fourth, strengthening capacity for health promotion.
Our fourth technical agenda item concerns the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, Hepatitis B, and Syphilis. While maternal, newborn and child health has improved significantly in the Western Pacific Region in the last three decades, we still have some important unfinished business: each year, there are estimated 180 000 babies newly infected with hepatitis B, 13 000 with syphilis, and 1400 with HIV through mother-to-child transmission.
It is within our power to fix this. These infections can be effectively prevented by simple interventions that can be delivered with antenatal, delivery and postnatal care—such as antenatal screening, treatment of infected mothers and prophylaxis of exposed infants.
The proposed Regional Framework for the Triple Elimination of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV, Hepatitis B and Syphilis in Asia and the Pacific 2018–2030 proposes a series of coordinated actions to ensure that every child in this Region is born free from these three preventable infections.
The next technical agenda item is about transitioning to integrated financing of priority public health services. Great progress has been made in reducing the burden of communicable diseases in our Region over the past few decades, but reductions in external funding for disease control programmes pose challenges to sustaining progress.
To address this, we not only need to support countries to identify alternative domestic funding streams. Just as, if not more important, is strengthening health systems through integration of service delivery and better coordination of financing mechanisms. A whole-of-system approach to essential public health functions—beyond a singular focus on specific diseases—is needed. This is the approach outlined in the Action Framework for Transitioning to Integrated Financing of Priority Public Health Services which we will consider this week.
All of us need medicines and the services of health professionals at various points in our lives. Ensuring the quality and safety of these services requires effective regulation of medicines and the health workforce – which is the subject of our next agenda item.
Good regulation by competent authorities is a core health system function for universal health coverage. However, some countries of the region already have mature regulatory systems while others still face challenges in setting up appropriate regulatory functions. Regulation is further complicated by increasing trade in medicines and recruitment of health workers between countries.
The proposed Regional Action Agenda on Regulatory Strengthening, Convergence and Cooperation for Medicines and Health Workforce identifies ways regional cooperation can contribute to good regulatory systems.
Finally, our seventh technical agenda item relates to food safety. In the Western Pacific Region, despite solid progress in this area, food safety incidents continue to impact health. In 2015, it was estimated that 125 million people fell ill, and over 50 000 people in the Region died from consuming unsafe food.
This is a complex area with many stakeholders across multiple sectors. Food safety risks cannot be completely eliminated, but they can be reduced through combined efforts of governments, businesses and consumers across multiple sectors. The proposed Regional Framework for Action on Food Safety in the Western Pacific will guide strategic action for national food safety and regional cooperation among food safety authorities and systems.
In addition to these important technical agenda items, we will also consider progress reports on a range of critical issues for health in
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Health Security and the Asia Pacific Strategy for Emerging Diseases and Public Health Emergencies
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Noncommunicable diseases
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Tobacco-free initiative
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Mental health
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Tuberculosis
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Hepatitis
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Traditional medicine, and
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Gender and health
Of course, later in the week, we will be joined by the newly elected Director-General, Dr Tedros, to discuss his vision for WHO’s work as outlined in the draft concept note towards the 13th WHO General Program of Work.
We will also discuss a range of other important standing agenda items, including the coordination of the work of the World Health Assembly, the Executive Board and the Regional Committee, and the agenda for next year’s session of this Committee.
Excellencies, distinguished delegates:
Thank you again for your confidence in electing me as Chair of this important meeting. I very much look forward to our discussions this week on the range of important and complex issues before us. We have a lot to do. Let’s get down to work!
Thank you very much.