Honorouble Minister of Health, Dr Chen Zhu;
Honourable ministers and vice-ministers;
Distinguished guests;
Ladies and gentlemen.
Good evening.
I am delighted to be here with you. It is an honour to participate in this dinner and to be part of such an important occasion.
Before I go on, I should explain that I am speaking this evening on behalf of our Director-General, Dr Margaret Chan, who unfortunately cannot be with us.
As we all know, tuberculosis is a disease that has been with us since ancient times. It exploits human weaknesses and thrives on our shortcomings. In more recent times, multidrug-resistant TB and the emergence of extensively drug-resistant TB have highlighted the gaps in how we care for tuberculosis patients, and indeed in our health systems as a whole.
So this week's high-level meeting should be seen as a challenge – and at the same time as an opportunity. We are here to see how we can do better. And I am happy to note that we are already responding to that challenge.
As we saw today with the endorsement of the Beijing Call for Action, participating Member States have come together to share what works for them and to identify ways to intensify the battle against tuberculosis.
In fact, today marks an historical day in TB control. We have committed not only to do better for our regular TB patients, but also to effectively manage those who are stricken by drug-resistant strains. I believe the result of these efforts will be a significant reduction in the burden of drug-resistant TB.
I am particularly proud to attend a meeting of this kind in China. Minister Chen, your leadership and that of your predecessors has resulted in exemplary implementation of the WHO Stop TB Strategy. You have ensured high case-detection rates and consistently high cure rates.
By hosting this meeting, China, together with the other countries with a high burden of multidrug-resistant TB, has taken an important step forward in the fight against the disease. I am sure this will have a lasting and far-reaching impact.
I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate China on the establishment of a new partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which was announced today.
I would like to assure you that WHO is committed to stepping up its support to countries in the implementation of programmes to address multidrug-resistant TB and extensively drug-resistant TB. Together with our partners we will do our utmost to assist countries in overcoming problems related to such issues as human resources, laboratory capacity and financing.
I would like to thank Minister Chen Zhu and the Ministry of Health for hosting this dinner. I wish you all a pleasant evening, and, more importantly, a very productive and fruitful continuation of the meeting.
Thank you.