LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,
Good morning.
Two and half years ago, we became the first WHO Region to set the aggressive goal of reducing tobacco prevalence by 10% by 2014.
This was part of the Regional Action Plan for the Tobacco Free Initiative in the Western Pacific, which the Regional Committee endorsed in 2009 in Hong Kong (China).
Now, we are gathered here to take stock of our progress to report to the sixty-third session of the Regional Committee, which will take place in Viet Nam in September.
Our progress has been encouraging — but will we meet our goals? Certainly anti-tobacco momentum has increased with the adoption of the United Nations "Political Declaration of the High-level Meeting of the General Assembly on the Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases".
Now there is a growing consensus towards setting a global target for reducing tobacco prevalence by 30% in the year 2015.
This is consistent with the targets envisioned in 2009 — and further evidence of Region's commitment to the aggressive steps laid out in the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
We know what we need to do. We need to follow the Regional Action Plan.
That means higher prices and taxes, comprehensive bans on advertising, promotion and sponsorship, graphic health warnings on packages, bans on smoking indoors and — of course — real help for people who want to quit smoking.
Sustained effort is the key. More financial and human resources are needed for comprehensive tobacco control programmes at national and subnational levels. Support must be constant.
Much of the progress we celebrate today is due to the hard work of the national focal points on tobacco control gathered in this room. Many of you may work quietly behind the scenes, but you make a big difference.
We all know that the work of tobacco control is not easy. You are often fighting an uphill battle against an industry with vast resources.
In recent years, the tobacco industry has become even more aggressive, more vicious and more bold and daring in its drive to frustrate tobacco control campaigns and to intimidate governments to favour its interests.
And in our Region, the fact that some tobacco industries are state owned complicates matters even more.
In the end, the tobacco industry has an irreconcilable conflict with public health.
And we — as public health leaders — cannot be distracted from our mission of improving health opportunities and saving lives.
Our vigilance, courage and leadership are the antidotes for the tobacco industry's poison.
As we come together to review the Regional Action Plan, I hope you take this opportunity to focus on what is needed to meet our goal of reducing prevalence rates by 2014.
All the countries and areas represented here today are at different stages of the cigarette epidemic and have progressed at different rates, in different ways.
The United Nations resolution on noncommunicable diseases provides us all with a global mandate to strengthen our efforts in tobacco control.
In fact, I believe that we cannot achieve the vision for combating noncommunicable diseases unless we seriously reduce tobacco use.
But first we need to make the links to the noncommunicable diseases agenda more clearly. You have to find ways to show your governments how tobacco control will reduce the number of preventable deaths and improve people's lives.
As you prepare the reports for your ministers to the Regional Committee in September, I look forward to hearing what the next steps should be and how WHO can continue to support the good work you are doing.
Finally, the next Conference of Parties will be held in the Western Pacific Region in Seoul in November 2012. Much like the World Conference on Tobacco or Health in March, this will be another opportunity to showcase our work and build partnerships towards full implementation of WHO tobacco control strategies.
Once again, I look forward to seeing the results of this productive meeting and wish you a pleasant stay in Manila.
Thank you.