Distinguished participants, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen
I am pleased to welcome you all to the Fifth Meeting of the Asia Pacific Technical Advisory Group on Emerging Infectious Diseases.
I would like to thank our TAG members for their commitment and the continuing technical advice they have been giving to the Asia Pacific region.
I also want to congratulate Member States in the Asia Pacific region for the enormous progress made in building stronger national and local systems for combating emerging diseases over the past five years.
The joint efforts of our Member States, technical experts and partners in developing and implementing the Asia Pacific Strategy for Emerging Diseases, have helped secure our region's health; a region that is home to more than half of the entire world's population.
Since its development in 2005, the Asia Pacific Strategy for Emerging Diseases (APSED) has used a common framework to support Member States.
Considerable progress has been made in the areas of surveillance and response, laboratory work, zoonoses, infection control, and risk communications.
The use of this common framework has been proven to be useful extremely helpful in guiding capacity building by Member States to prepare, detect and respond to emerging infectious diseases.
The H1N1 pandemic in 2009 provided a testing ground for many of these capacities.
During the pandemic, the strengthened laboratory capacity of national influenza centres greatly helped the response in our region.
Improvements in the reporting and sharing of information using the International Health Regulations channel was also demonstrated, with timely and regular communications occurring between International Health Regulations National Focal Points and WHO.
Now, at the close of the first phase of APSED, it is time to reflect on our experiences of the past five years and to evaluate how best to ensure the health security of our region into the future.
Despite much progress, challenges remain in ensuring that all countries in our region have the necessary core capacities to meet their obligations under the International Health Regulations (2005).
And while there is a need to continue to focus on threats posed by emerging infectious diseases, there is also a need to address other public health threats as recognized by the International Health Regulations (2005).
To meet these challenges, we must expand the current scope of APSED.
Consultations with countries and partners in our regions over the past few months have provided a clear picture of the priorities and the activities that should be considered as the scope of APSED is expanded.
From this, a revised APSED strategy has been developed that will be presented and reviewed at this meeting.
To support the implementation of the revised APSED strategy, I am please to announce that within the Western Pacific Regional Office we have created a new Division – the Division of Health Security and Emergencies.
This new division will bring together expertise in emerging infectious diseases, food safety and management of health emergencies - reflecting the expanded scope of APSED.
Threats to public health do not stop at national borders, and no single country can manage these threats alone. Health security is a truly international challenge.
To meet this we must collaborate–between sectors, between countries and between regions–to ensure a safer region.
In closing, I would like to thank again our country representatives, technical experts and partners for their participation in this TAG meeting.
This week we have a unique and important opportunity to review the revised APSED strategy and in doing so to develop a common framework to build a strong and safer region for us all.
Your continued support will enable the countries and areas of the WHO South-East Asia and the Western Pacific Regions to achieve this common goal.
I wish you all a successful deliberation and an enjoyable stay in Manila.
Thank you.