Esteemed representatives of the Government of the Philippines and the Diplomatic Corps;
Development partners and NGOs;
UN colleagues
Friends from the media;
Distinguished participants;
Ladies and gentlemen –
Good morning and welcome to the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific. Thank you for joining us.
WHO is the UN specialised agency for health, founded 71 years ago with the mission of seeking the highest possible standard of health for all people.
For those of you who are here for the first time, we are one of 6 WHO Regional Offices around the world. We serve 37 countries and areas across Asia and the Pacific.
World Health Day is WHO’s ‘birthday’, and is a cause for celebration of the huge progress that the entire world has made towards better health over the last seven decades. But, it is also a time to reflect on how far we still have to go from today.
And this year's theme is Universal Health Coverage: that means, everyone, everywhere being able to receive the health care they need, when they need it, at an affordable price. This year particularly, we want to focus on the role of primary health care.
You might be wondering, 'what is primary health care?' Primary health care is basic health services close to where people live. It's where people visit if they have a minor illness, it's where people get vaccinated against
Just last week I visited the Vicencio Health Centre, just down the road from this office, in
Primary health care is often the interface with the community. A few days ago I was in Samoa, in the middle of the Pacific ocean. I visited a small community called Saanapu – where I met very passionate, special women's groups. These women's groups are renowned for providing the services called PEN Fa’a Samoa.
This is an activity to help the villagers become aware of their blood pressure and blood sugar levels – and their risk of diseases such as diabetes and hypertension. I was so impressed by the way they care for their community and their commitment to making their community healthy.
In some places, primary health care services are the only health services available.
A few years ago when I was the WHO Representative in Viet Nam, I had a mission to the northern part of the country, to a hard-to-reach area. I was on the way back from the field late at night when I encountered a village.
It was so dark; only the car's headlights were showing the road. But there was one light on along the street, and I became very curious, I went to see what it was. It was the local primary health care clinic. I asked the health worker why she was still there so late. She looked at me as though my question was very strange, and she said, "I'm here because people might come." I was very touched by that response.
Each of these stories is an example of primary health care in action. There are so many examples around the world. Of course, primary health care is not a revolutionary new concept. But the truth is, in the past, health investment has not focused enough on primary health care, especially compared to other health interventions such as hospitals.
And today is the day that we need to correct this. We don't have to be rich to organize a very good primary health care system. The truth is, it is a smart investment for governments.
The reason for this is really very simple. Primary health care keeps people healthy. Take the example of a person with type 2 diabetes. This is a chronic condition – but well managed, with the right monitoring, medicines, diet and other care – most people with diabetes live very
Primary health care means the patient can get those services close to where they live. Yet in some countries, less than half the people have access to these kinds of essential health services. If you don't have access to these services, you may end up with disastrous consequences.
In the case of diabetes, you may lose your eyesight, you may need renal dialysis, or need to amputate a foot or leg.
Of
This is why we think it's time to revisit the meaning of primary health care and strengthen it, both for the health of
Excellencies, over the last few months – I took this office in February – I went around to countries and exchanged with Ministers, permanent secretaries and officials and we discussed the areas on which we need to focus in the coming five years. Three things came up:
One is threats to health security. As you know, this region is known as a hotspot for infectious diseases. Three out of the last 4 influenza pandemics started from this region.
The second thing is the diseases I just mentioned increasing in the future, such as diabetes, at the same time as many countries’ populations are rapidly ageing, and;
Third, many of our Pacific Island countries expressed their concerns about the health impacts of climate change, while some other countries also expressed concerns about environmental health issues in relation to development.
So these are three things we will focus on. We know that UHC, through strong primary health care, is going to be the key to address these issues.
Ladies and gentleman, distinguished guests, tens of thousands of primary health care workers across our Region are hard at work as I speak – like the women I told you about in Samoa, the health care worker in remote Viet Nam, the antenatal staff here in Manila …. and countless others.
They are already dedicating themselves to serving their communities. But they need
And unfortunately, for each example of a great primary health care service, there is a community somewhere else missing out.
It's time to fix this. This World Health Day, we are calling on leaders and partners to join us to strengthen primary health
Thank you very much again, and happy World Health Day!