Honorable Don Polye, Deputy Prime Minister;
Honorable Sasa Zibe, Minister of Health and HIV&AIDS;
Chief Secretary, Manasupe Zurenouc;
Dr. Clement Malau, Secretary of Health;
Senior Executive Managers, National Department of Health and other government agencies,
Provincial Administrators and Provincial Directors of Health,
Staff from National Department of Health,
Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Papua New Guinea is a special country and I am very happy to be visiting for the second time as Regional Director.
During my last visit, I met with health care workers in village and highland communities.
I saw for myself their skills and their dedication—as well as the immense challenges they face.
I commend those health care workers and those supporting rural health programmes.
WHO is committed to working with the Government and with our development partners to help address the public health challenges you face.
Papua New Guinea is and will continue to be a high priority for me as Regional Director.
Health and education are critical to a nation's development.
Without health and education, a country and its people will never reach their full potential.
Investing in the health of our people takes money, but it also takes much, much more.
It takes vision, it takes planning, and it takes leadership at the highest levels of Government.
It is, therefore, with great pleasure that I am here today at the launch of your National Health Plan for 2011 to 2020.
This impressive document contains the fundamental elements needed to strengthen your health system: vision, planning, and a clear commitment from Government.
Significant increases in health spending will be needed for the plan to be realized.
But the opportunity to expand investment in health may well be within reach.
The likely economic development of Papua New Guinea with revenues from liquefied natural gas and similar projects will provide great opportunities.
But important choices will have to be made on how best to invest this wealth.
A critical choice will be the balance between primary health care and specialized care.
Study after study has shown that investing in primary health care is by far the most cost effective means of improving health—particularly for the most disadvantaged.
Specialized care and tertiary care are important but are very expensive and can be a great drain on limited resources.
The right balance between primary and specialist health care is something you will have to decide.
But a National Health Plan, like the plan that we are here to launch today, can be of great value in setting priorities.
A second—and equally important choice—concerns who pays for which services.
Financial barriers to accessing health care, including user fees and transport costs, significantly limit our ability to improve health.
Without ways of overcoming this barrier, it will be very difficult for Papua New Guinea to make progress in achieving the health-related Millennium Development Goals.
I am encouraged to learn that Papua New Guinea might consider running trials of incentive schemes to encourage women to attend antenatal care and have their babies in health facilities.
I am also very encouraged to learn about the 100 % increase in funding for rural health over the last three years through health function grants.
Appropriate health care financing choices, reflected in a realistic Medium-term Expenditure Framework, are a critical component of a successful National Health Plan.
But if this visionary and ambitious plan is to achieve significant health gains for the population, it must be implemented at the district and community level.
Without strong implementation at local level, it will be impossible to make progress toward achieving health-related Millennium Development Goals—or indeed any other important health goals.
I would encourage the Government to establish a central unit to monitor implementation of this plan and to provide support to develop these skills at the local level.
We'll need strong leadership and strong coordination to achieve all of this.
Effective coordination is particularly important in Papua New Guinea as public-private partnerships, churches and other non-state providers play a significant role in delivering health care on behalf of the Government.
I hope that a robust coordination mechanism as recommended in the Health Partnership Study that was conducted jointly by National Department of Health, the Asian Development Bank and WHO can be developed.
Partnerships and how they are managed are critical to improving service delivery in Papua New Guinea.
My further hope is that you will be able to invest in developing a core group of skilled experts who can lead further strengthening of the health system in Papua New Guinea.
Developing a cadre of skilled managers and leaders is something that WHO supports strongly.
It is an area where we, along with other partners, would be willing to provide additional support if needed.
Before I close, I would like to highlight maternal mortality as an issue of particular importance to me.
Five women in Papua New Guinea die every day in labour or as a result of pregnancy-related complications. Papua New Guinea has the highest maternal mortality rate in the whole of the Western Pacific Region.
And Papua New Guinea is not on track to reach Millennium Development Goal 5 on improving maternal health.
Most maternal deaths are preventable. They are avoidable, detectable and treatable.
They shouldn't occur.
And yet, by the time this launching ceremony has concluded, it is likely that another young woman will have needlessly died in Papua New Guinea.
I recognize the good work that has been done through the Ministerial Task Force on Maternal Health.
And I welcome the action plan developed by National Department of Health in cooperation with development partners.
I understand that a Command Center on maternal health is now being established in Department of Health, and I fully support this.
WHO has supported similar initiatives in Cambodia and the Lao People's Democratic Republic.
I hope that a workforce plan to address the shortage of midwives and community health workers trained in midwifery skills will be available shortly.
Closing the gap of the unmet need for family planning is another critical step to improve maternal health.
In conclusion, let's join together to congratulate the Government on developing and launching this important National Health Plan.
Let's take this opportunity to remind ourselves of the enormous benefits to development, to communities and to individuals that come from investing in health.
And let's work together make the right choices so that this National Health Plan can be fully funded and supported.
WHO and all the other health development partners wish the Government every success in implementing this plan.
And as I said at the opening of my address, Papua New Guinea is and will continue to be a high priority for me as Regional Director.
Thank you.