WHO Director General's address at the 77th Session of the Regional Committee for South East Asia – 7 October 2024

Honourable Minister J.P. Nadda,

Honourable Minister Amaral,

Regional Director Saima Wazed,

Honourable Ministers and heads of delegation,

Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,

Good morning, and I apologise that I cannot be with you in person, but I'm pleased that my Chef de Cabinet Dr Razia Pendse is there to represent me.

The past year has been a very significant one for the WHO and the South-East Asia region, with the election of Saima Wazed as Regional Director a year ago.

You have many accomplishments of which to be proud, especially in the area of eliminating disease threats:

Bangladesh became the first country to eliminate kala-azar and was also validated for the elimination of lymphatic filariasis as a public health problem;

Thailand became one of the first five countries to be validated for the elimination of transfat from its food supply;

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Timor Leste were certified for the elimination of rubella;

And Bhutan is on the way, with interruption of rubella transmission for over 36 months.

Tomorrow, India will become the 20^th country to be validated for the elimination of trachoma; and Timor Leste will become the 21^st country to be validated for the elimination of lymphatic filariasis as a public health problem.

Congratulations to all Member States.

Although the region did not meet its target to eliminate measles and rubella by 2023, it's not a failure if you don't meet an ambitious target; it's failure if you don't have an ambitious target in the first place.

So I welcome the resolution you will consider this week to eliminate both diseases by 2026. The Secretariat stands ready to support you, at all three levels, to meet that target.

Notwithstanding your many successes, the region faces many challenges, as you know:

The growing burden of noncommunicable diseases and mental health;

The unfinished business of reducing neonatal and under-5 mortality;

The growing threat of antimicrobial resistance;

Inequitable access to health services and essential medicines;

The continuing burden of tuberculosis;

The need to safeguard the health of adolescents, as affirmed in the declaration you will adopt at tomorrow's ministerial roundtable;

And the ever-present threat of epidemics, pandemics and other emergencies.

Since it was established in 2008, the South-East Asia Regional Health Emergency Fund has provided valuable and rapid support to respond to respond to 49 emergencies in 10 Member States.

I welcome the resolution before you this week to triple the scope of the fund to 3 million US dollars.

This is a valuable complement to the Contingency Fund for Emergencies, which performs a similar role at the global level.

Responding to emergencies is the most visible part of WHO's work, but by no means the only part.

The 14^th General Programme of Work, adopted at this year's World Health Assembly, encompasses the vast scope of WHO's work, from antimicrobial resistance to ageing; blood transfusion to breastfeeding; climate change to cholera; and so on.

To implement GPW14, we have launched the first WHO Investment Round, which aims to mobilize the sustainable and predictable resources we need to do our work.

We look forward to the participation of all Member States in the Investment Round event this afternoon.

Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,

Thank you all once again for your commitment to promoting, providing and protecting health, for all the people of South-East Asia.

I wish you all a very productive meeting, and a successful year ahead.

I thank you.

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