Excellencies and Hon’ble Ministers of Health from across the South-East Asia Region; technical experts, ministry officials and development partners; D-G Dr Tedros and WHO colleagues,
It is my pleasure to join you today – on International Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Day – to launch the WHO South-East Asia Region Strategy for Primary Health Care (PHC).
For the second consecutive year, we commemorate this day amid a vast and devastating health, social and economic crisis.
A crisis that has killed more than 5.2 million people globally, including more than 700 000 in our Region.
A crisis that by the beginning of this year, had pushed up to 150 million people globally into extreme poverty, including tens of millions in our Region.
A crisis that has disrupted essential health services, stalled decades of economic growth, and which last year caused an economic contraction in our Region of -5.4%.
A crisis that highlights the significance of this Strategy for achieving our goals: UHC and health security.
Need it be said: PHC is the key that unlocks UHC – when all people can access quality health services, without financial hardship.
It is the means by which we can fulfill the promise of the 1978 Declaration of Alma-Ata and the 2018 Declaration of Astana: health and well-being for all, social justice, and inclusive, rapid and sustainable economic growth.
It is an essential enabler for achieving our Flagship Priorities, the health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and our “Sustain. Accelerate. Innovate” vision.
It is the cornerstone of how we as a Region plan to build back better, more resilient, together.
I thank you, dear Excellencies, partners and colleagues, for joining me.
The South-East Asia Region is home to around 2.1 billion people – more than a quarter of humanity.
Since 2014, achieving UHC has been one of the Region’s Flagship Priorities, towards which all countries have made measurable and sustained progress.
Health service coverage in the Region is now on average above 61% as compared with 49% a decade ago.
The density of health workers – around 70% of whom are women – has substantively increased, with nine countries now above the first WHO threshold of 22.8 health workers per 10 000 population, compared with six in 2014.
Throughout the COVID-19 response, and into the recovery and beyond, we must build on these and other successes to achieve health service coverage of more than 80% and end catastrophic health spending.
In the months, years and decades ahead, we face an array of challenges.
Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes continue to be the Region’s number one killer, accounting for around 60% of mortality.
An estimated 85% of all premature NCD deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries, and most could easily be prevented through access to quality PHC services and medical products that are affordable and available in the community.
Together, TB, HIV and malaria make an additional 13 million people in the Region sick every year and account for more than 780 000 deaths – morbidity and mortality that can be prevented through integrated PHC services that engage at-risk and key populations.
Despite the Region’s remarkable reductions in maternal, neonatal and child mortality, avoidable deaths continue to occur – deaths that can be reduced by increasing access to essential PHC interventions in pregnancy, infancy and childhood.
By 2050, the number of older people globally is expected to rise to more than 2 billion, which will include around 20% of the Region’s population. The life-course approach is the only approach that can empower older people to remain functionally able and have equitable access to palliative care services.
In addition to COVID-19, the Region faces a range of pressing health threats, from emerging and re-emerging diseases, to natural disasters and climate-related weather events. Strong PHC services are critical to prevent, prepare for, respond to and recover from such threats, while at the same time maintaining essential health services.
Countries of the Region unanimously agree:
Now is not the time for disjointed, disease-specific approaches that leave patients out of pocket, and which do not grasp that health is both an input and output of sustainable social and economic development.
Rather, now is the time to invest in and reorient health systems towards strong PHC services that fulfill the Right to Health, and which meet the health, social and economic challenges with which we are faced.
I take this opportunity to commend Member States for developing and adopting the Region’s Declaration on COVID-19 and measures to build back better essential health services to achieve UHC and the health-related SDGs.
Our new Regional Strategy is a direct response to the Declaration and is one of two crucial enablers – the other being our forthcoming Regional Roadmap for Strengthening Health Security.
The Strategy focuses on 12 strategic actions that are interdependent, overlapping and non-exhaustive.
It is based on the values of universality, equity, solidarity and accountability.
It is grounded in the conviction that PHC services must be people-centred, resilient and adaptive, and informed by local knowledge.
It is evidence-driven and aligned with the global operational framework for PHC, launched in December of last year.
The Strategy draws on and reflects the economic case for investing in PHC – a case that highlights PHC’s high return on investment, and which must continue to be made across sectors and at all levels, domestically, internationally and globally.
The Strategy marks the breadth of our vision and the strength of our commitment not only to see this crisis through, but to build back better, more resilient, together.
I wish you an engaging launch and thank you for joining me to leverage this once-in-a-century opportunity to ensure all people can access the right care, right in their community.
Thank you.