Hafa Adai Todus Hamyu and welcome to Guam, ladies and gentlemen.
This regional conference returns to Guam 42 year after its fifth meeting in 1972.
It is an honor to host the members of the World Health Organization Western Pacific Region for the 66th Regional Committee Session here on Guam.
Guam is proud to welcome the more than 300 people representing 37 countries.
We hope that as you work on the health-related issues in the Western Pacific region, that you also get a chance to experience the island, and enjoy the Chamorro culture, as well as the diversity of cultures; that together, draw thousands of people to our shores each year.
We also hope you get to learn more about the challenges we face here on Guam. We look forward to the solutions that will help boost the quality of life of our residents and visitors alike.
Since its inception in 1948, the World Health Organization has helped raise many issues to the attention of global leaders.
You have lead the regional response to public health issues on various fronts, including medical, socio-economic, cultural, and educational — with the goal of bringing the highest attainable level of health to member countries.
The efforts of the World Health Organization has lead to significant milestones, such as the eradication of small pox — a disease that killed more than 2 million people annually. Your work has saved the lives of many.
But there is more work to be done, and that is what brings us here together today.
It is fitting that Guam hosts this session. Guam sits in the middle of the Pacific. We are a gateway between Micronesia and other Pacific Islands, Asia and the United States.
We are an American territory just hours away from Australia, Indonesia, Philippines, Japan, South Korea and other countries in a region that is home to more than 1.8 billion people.
Many from our neighboring countries migrate to Guam for economic and educational opportunities. And we also are seeing more migrants as a result of climate change and its effects, including longer droughts, increased number of typhoons, and rising water levels.
Unfortunately, being at the destination or a point of passage for many people from so many different areas, leaves us vulnerable.
Our relative isolation, which helps us to build a reputation as a premier getaway for tourists, can be a double-edged sword. Guam is a destination with enough infrastructure to support a great deal of traffic, but also attracts many who search for educational and economic opportunities.
As a hub, and a point of transit for many going from Asia to the Marianas or Micronesia — and vice versa — we have a direct connection to other hubs, a fact that increases the risk of disease transmission.
This relative isolation, mixed with high-traffic mixed together creates a potential for a petri-dish. This is why we work so diligently to protect our borders.
As a real life example, I know the W.H.O. is trying to eradicate tuberculosis.
While treatment is available on Guam and many other communities, it is not available to everyone within the Western Pacific. As the educational hub in this region, almost every new school year, there are one or two individuals who will be found with an active case of tuberculosis.
We do have a robust system that allows us to identify and contain an active tuberculosis case. But it costs thousands of dollars to have education and public health professionals coordinate the mass screening for hundreds of students, teachers and school staff; and ensure the health of our students, staff and their families are protected.
Included in the agenda for discussion this week, are several primary issues in the region, to include Guam.
As the members of this body work to make the treatment of Hepatitis available to the wider population, I’d like to ask you to think of Guam.
Our statistics mirrors the Western Pacific region’s somewhat disproportionate number of Hepatitis C patients. Hepatitis is responsible for more deaths than that from HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria combined.
New antivirals are effective at treating chronic hepatitis B and C infections and preventing liver cancer, but remain unaffordable and inaccessible to most people living with these infections here on Guam and throughout Western Pacific.
Universal Health Coverage is another topic extremely relevant to our area of the Pacific, where cost and other barriers to health care access persist.
Federal programs like Medicare and Medicaid are not fully available to all Guamanians, including our brothers and sisters from the federally associated states. Many come to Guam only to find their access to health care coverage is severely limited.
Many are able to seek help through the locally funded Medically Indigent Program, but this program — between growing migrant numbers and rising cost of health care — is becoming a financial burden. We may soon reach the point where Guam’s taxpayers may not be able to afford any more patients.
In my role as Governor of Guam, I have been working with the U.S. Department of Interior and the Department of Health and Human Services in an effort to help all Guamanians.
One of the challenges we face is the inadvertent impact of certain federal decisions that made citizens of federally associated states ineligible for federal health care coverage via Medicare and Medicaid. This lack of coverage means fewer are able to access preventative health care, including annual checkups.
And because they then cannot afford the trip to the clinic, they end up at the Guam Memorial Hospital’s emergency room. At this point, their health issues have worsened and could be life-threatening.
As the WHO Western Pacific Region strives to ensure all countries make access to healthcare universal, I hope other countries with similar issues are able to share their solutions with Guam and our region of Micronesia.
One other issue that is of concern both to Guam and the Western Pacific is domestic violence.
October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month for the United States and its territories.
Just two weeks ago, Guam joined the nation in the reaffirming our dedication to forging a community where no one suffers the hurt and hardship that domestic violence causes — and we recommit to doing everything in our power to uphold the basic human right to be free from violence and abuse.
I am proud to say that our efforts on Guam in this regard are part of strong partnerships with our non-profit organizations and supported by our private businesses. It truly is a community effort to raise awareness that every human life matters.
But as I said earlier, there is much work to be done on Guam and in the region.
A combined total of 1,611 arrests were made for family violence alone in 2011, 2012, and 2013. According to the Community Outreach-Federal Programs Office, 3,170 victims of family or domestic violence were served during the same period.
Considering that Guam’s culture is rooted in family, the crimes within families and against women and children is alarming.
While we should focus on how to punish criminals for ruining the lives of their victims, it is more important to ask what we can do to prevent these crimes from happening.
Research shows that crime is a cycle transmitted through families and linked to economic disparities.
The social factors that drive crime in other parts of the world are similar to Guam. Many of Guam’s violent crimes are linked to drugs, alcohol abuse, lack of economic opportunities, lack of a familial structure and educational attainment.
It is a vicious cycle that may begin with opportunities people can access. Poorer communities do not always have supportive family members who reinforce the importance of getting an education.
As we here today, look at ways to promote a greater quality of life for many in our ever developing global economy, let us always remember that the issues we face in our own communities do not belong to us alone.
Technology and advancements in transportation and telecommunication have given rise to issues we had not foreseen.
Whether it is a sedentary lifestyle that leads to obesity and the growing number of non-communicable diseases, or the multiplied opportunities for communicable diseases to spread, or the growing disparity in wealth that leads to a population of our countrymen without access to healthcare, or education and other opportunities — I hope that this year’s Regional Conference will help provide an answer to these issues that we cannot ignore in our ever-shrinking world.
Thank you all for coming to Guam, for choosing Guam as the platform from which new ideas and solutions will be developed.
And Si Yu’os Ma’ase.