*Errors and omissions excepted (E&OE)
I want to give a warm welcome to journalists across the Region to my first press conference as acting Regional Director for the Western Pacific. We appreciate you joining us today to mark WHO’s 75th anniversary.
In April 1948, in the wake of World War II, countries came together and founded the World Health Organization to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable.
Three quarters of a century on, we are taking this year as an opportunity to look back at the public health successes that have improved the lives of families, communities and countries.
It is also a time to recognize the health challenges we face today—and in the future—and recommit to the public health investments, innovations and actions needed to tackle them.
The health and well-being of people in the Western Pacific are very different today than they were 75 years ago. Back then, people lived for around 40 or 50 years, and in some parts of the Region, half of the babies born died before celebrating their first birthday.
In many places, health care was limited to emergency treatment by too few health workers.
Smallpox and polio were major threats. Malaria was widespread, and other infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis, yaws and leprosy were challenges.
Hunger, nutritional deficiencies and poor access to safe water and sanitation further harmed people’s health and stopped them from achieving their potential.
Fast forward 75 years, and WHO’s work with countries and partners has contributed greatly to extending and improving people’s lives. Today, people in our Region live at least three decades longer, for an average of 77 years.
Smallpox is no more, the Region has been free of wild poliovirus transmission since 2000, and thanks to improvements in water and sanitation, deaths due to diarrhoeal diseases have dropped by 60% over the past two decades. In the same period, malaria deaths in the Western Pacific have been slashed by 88% and several countries in the Region have eliminated or nearly eliminated the disease.
Thanks to investments in primary health care, many health services are now closer to communities, and more mothers and children are surviving and thriving. Since 1990, maternal deaths have declined 77% and child deaths have declined 88% in the Western Pacific. Today, nearly all babies are born with assistance from a skilled health professional, and 90% of children in the Western Pacific receive life-saving vaccinations.
But while the past few decades saw the burden of some infectious diseases drop dramatically, rates of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in the Region have risen sharply. In response, WHO ramped up support to countries for health promotion and protecting people from harmful risk factors such as tobacco and alcohol use, unhealthy diets and physical inactivity. We also pay much more attention to political, social, environmental and commercial determinants of health, as well as to the management of conditions like hypertension, diabetes and cancer, which are responsible for a large part of NCDs.
In 2003, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) became the first international treaty negotiated under the auspices of WHO, and it remains among the most rapidly and widely embraced treaties in United Nations history. FCTC measures are protecting current and future generations across the Western Pacific from the devastating impacts of tobacco use. WHO also works with Member States on alcohol, nutrition and food safety related issues, and we promote active lives in many ways, including through events like “Walk the Talk”.
Countries of this Region have also benefited from strong support over the past decades to prepare for and respond to health emergencies. In 2022 alone, we responded to 19 major events in the Region, including COVID-19, mpox, dengue and human cases of avian flu, as well as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis. The International Health Regulations (IHR) and three iterations of the Asia Pacific Strategy for Emerging Diseases and Public Health Emergencies helped ensure that, through the current pandemic, our Region has maintained relatively low mortality rates and achieved the highest vaccination coverage.
It is clear that health and wellbeing have improved vastly since WHO’s founding, but the goal of ‘health for all’, which drives all that we do, is not yet a reality. Major challenges—and opportunities—remain.
Almost 9 out of 10 deaths in the Western Pacific today are due to noncommunicable diseases like cancer and diabetes. The Region has one of the largest and fastest growing older populations. And some of the most vulnerable and hard-to-reach groups still lack access to good-quality and affordable health services.
Environmental hazards, such as air pollution, more frequent tropical storms and rising sea levels from climate change all pose serious threats to people’s health and wellbeing. And the next outbreak with pandemic potential may be just around the corner.
The need for a strong WHO remains clear. We are the only organization with the mandate, footprint and expertise to help countries reorient health systems, engage all sectors, and transform societies so that all people can live long, healthy and productive lives.
This work is already in progress.
The For the Future vision to make this the world’s safest and healthiest region guides WHO’s work in the Western Pacific. It harnesses innovative approaches to achieve progress across four priority areas: health security including antimicrobial resistance; noncommunicable diseases and ageing; climate change, the environment and health; and reaching the unreached.
Learning from the COVID-19 experience, the Organization has initiated work with countries on a new Pandemic Treaty, and an update of the International Health Regulations which will go to the World Health Assembly next year.
It’s also very clear that we need to strengthen use of the “One Health” approach—bringing together actions to protect human health, animal health and the health of the planet.
And we also have to make health systems more resilient, by investing in pandemic preparedness, primary health care and other public health functions.
We must not lose sight of our goal of Universal Health Coverage, to give people access to health services and financial protection throughout the whole cycle of health care: from prevention to promotion, care and rehabilitation.
And we are delivering on the “five Ps” described by our Director General, Dr Tedros, to achieve the “triple billion” targets in WHO’s 13th General Programme of Work, the health-related Sustainable Development Goals, and the promise of universal health coverage: Promoting, Providing, Protecting, Powering and Performing for health.
It will not be easy. It will take new ways of thinking and working, sustained funding and commitment from governments and a wide range of partners working alongside WHO to meet the health challenges and opportunities of today, and over the next 75 years and beyond. We need whole-of-government and whole-of-society approaches – with full buy-in from all sectors, led by the government.
Together, we can—and we must—achieve health for all.