Opening remarks - Press conference l 75th session of the WHO Regional Committee for the Western Pacific

Good morning, good afternoon. And a warm welcome to our journalists here in Manila and online.

Thank you for joining us for this press conference.

Today- we're here to launch a new report, looking at how the Western Pacific- is tracking on the health-related Sustainable Development Goals, and to preview the expected outcomes of the WHO Regional Committee Meeting- for the Western Pacific taking place here next week.

This will be my first Regional Committee Meeting - since taking up the role of Regional Director in February.

It is both a privilege- and a great responsibility to lead WHO's work -in this vast and dynamic Region.

I'm looking forward to having important dialogues with ministers, senior officials and partners- on key health challenges and how -we can work together to address them.

But first, let me share a few highlights of the report I mentioned.

As you may know, world leaders came together at the UN in 2015, and agreed on a set of global goals to be achieved by 2030.

Among them are targets to improve health and wellbeing.

The report we are releasing today, looks at how countries in this Region are tracking.

It finds that there has been some impressive progress, but also points to a number of areas- where urgent action is needed to meet the goals by the deadline, just six years from now.

In terms of life expectancy, the report shows that COVID-19 did less damage in the Western Pacific, than other parts of the world.

Life expectancy is now 77.4 years - longer than any other region of the world.

But it's not all positive - the pandemic, of course, caused devastating losses of loved ones, and it disrupted progress in various other areas of health.

It also deepened inequalities.

The report points to major challenges in the Region, in terms of:

We urgently need transformative primary health care, robust systems for health financing- to achieve universal health coverage and the SDGs, as well as digital health, climate-resilient health facilities, and more.

This brings me to the business of the Regional Committee Meeting -taking place here next week.

It is WHO's -most important governing body in the Region.

Once a year health ministers and other senior officials- come together to decide on key priorities.

In my main address, I will share an update on WHO's recent work in the Region, then I will present a new vision for improving health, and well-being over the coming five years.

The vision, centres on the analogy of weaving a mat-a traditional activity across Asia and the Pacific.

It symbolizes the collaborative efforts needed by WHO, governments and partners - across five vertical and three horizontal strands, during the period 2025-2029.

The vertical strands of action - led by governments working with WHO and other stakeholders - are focused on:

The horizontal strands of action by WHO -are to ensure that:

Also at the Regional Committee meeting- Member States will consider Action Frameworks -to address two important health challenges.

The first is a Regional Action Framework -for Health Financing to Achieve Universal Health Coverage, and Sustainable Development in the Western Pacific.

Despite recent reforms, we don't yet have the policies and public health financing needed -to ensure equitable access to essential services in the Region.

Many families are struggling to pay for medicines and doctors' visits, and they are falling into poverty.

In 2019 alone, more than 300 million people in the Western Pacific - faced catastrophic health costs.

To achieve universal health coverage, and sustainable development, we need more government spending on public health- prioritizing primary health care.

The draft framework that Member States will consider next week - aims to help them improve health financing- by ensuring:

Member States will also consider a Regional Action Framework on Digital Health- in the Western Pacific.

As the use of digital technology to improve health-continues to grow rapidly in the Region, the need for better governance and legislation, standards and workforce capacity- are becoming more important.

The draft Framework that Member States will consider -focuses on five areas:

In addition to the Regional Action Frameworks I've described, -delegates will engage in panel discussions on:

In addition, they will review progress on issues- such as:

There will be a special event- on the first-ever WHO investment round, where we expect governments and partners to pledge new support for our work -to improve health in the Region.

And there will be side events on topics- including One Health and tobacco control.

In another "first", we will unveil a series of six exhibitions, showcasing important health issues- facing our Region.

These include:

As you have heard, there's a very full agenda next week.

But I want to ensure we have enough time for questions and answers.

As you can see, I'm joined here today by the directors of our technical divisions, as well as the WHO Representative to the Philippines.

We would be happy to take your questions now.

Thank you.