Participants, colleagues and friends
Good morning and good afternoon to you all, and welcome to the 14th Working Group meeting of the South-East Asia Regional Health Emergency Fund, or SEARHEF.
SEARHEF has come a long way since its inception in 2008. None of us can forget the destruction, devastation and loss of lives caused by the earthquake and tsunami of December 2004. Out of that unspeakable tragedy came the idea of a fund that could be rapidly mobilized during such emergencies.
To date, SEARHEF has supported 49 emergencies in 10 of our countries, and has disbursed a total of approximately USD 8.03 million. As you know, these disbursements happen the most critical phases of an emergency response, contributing to saving innumerable lives.
As the planetary climate crisis intensifies, we face ever increasing natural disasters. The COVID-19 pandemic clearly showed us that emergency responses are greatly hampered when financial resources are insufficient. The recent earthquake in Myanmar reiterated this reality yet again - that countries, agencies and organizations need substantial financial resources to adequately respond to such disasters.
Based on the recommendations of this very SEARHEF Working Group, the 77th Regional Committee approved to increase the corpus of the fund to US$ 3 million for each biennium and suggested the merger of the Response and Preparedness streams for improved efficiency.
The Regional Committee also directed the Secretariat to propose revised policies and procedures for SEARHEF in consultation with the Working Group.
Considering the importance of the endeavor, a Core Committee was formed in our Regional Office under the chairpersonship of the Director of Programme Management. A series of consultations were held, including with the Working Group and senior officials from Member States.
I am pleased to say that our Regional Office colleagues have captured all the submissions from Member States, and I encourage you to discuss and finalize the proposed revisions. We shall then table them, later this year, at the 78th session of the Regional Committee.
In current circumstances, with the reality of resource constraints, we need to strengthen the innovation that is SEARHEF to continue to support our countries in responding to emergencies and disasters.
As members of this Working Group, it is incumbent upon you to advise us on improving the effectiveness of SEARHEF.
It goes without saying that I hope you will have informative and constructive deliberations, and I look forward to being appraised of the outcomes.
Thank you.