Good afternoon and congratulations to the Thai Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth) on its 20th anniversary celebration, and for receiving the 2021 Nelson Mandela award for Health Promotion – recognition that is richly deserved.
Over two decades, ThaiHealth has built partnerships with trust, respect, and sustainable engagement.
It has brought sectors and stakeholders together, pioneering innovative ways to mobilize resources and facilitate multisectoral partnerships – assets that have been critical to the COVID-19 response.
ThaiHealth has not only achieved this in Thailand, but also internationally, including by partnering with foundations in Australia, Malaysia, India and Tonga, and with the NCD Alliance, among many others.
ThaiHealth is a shining example of the solidarity that is required to accelerate progress towards Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3, and to achieve universal health coverage through a primary health care approach that facilitates multi-sectoral collaboration and community engagement.
The SDGs themselves are explicit on the theme of today’s celebration – the need to come together for a healthier world.
They are explicit on the need for multisectoral partnerships and policy coherence across sectors.
And they are explicit on the fact that the health sector is just one among several sectors that must contribute.
They are very much aligned with what we at WHO call the health-in-all-policies approach – an approach to public policy that takes into account the health implications of decisions, seeks synergies, and avoids harmful health impacts to improve population health and health equity.
COVID-19 has shown that when health and well-being suffer, so does social and economic development.
But it has also shown that when communities come together for health, there is no limit to what we can achieve – a message that ThaiHealth has long promoted through its work to increase physical activity and healthy eating, and enhance access to healthy environments, including through tobacco control and taxation.
Reflecting this approach, WHO’s Independent High-level Commission on Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) has recommended that all countries globally establish national multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder mechanisms to tackle NCDs.
WHO continues to support all countries of the Region in this endeavour, in line with our Flagship Priority on preventing and controlling NCDs and our “Sustain. Accelerate. Innovate” vision.
Importantly, innovations in governance alone will not deliver the progress that is required.
Rather, such innovations must be matched by sustained and scaled up financing, alongside the development of clear and actionable accountability mechanisms.
As ThaiHealth rightly emphasizes, “All people should be able to live in a society and environment that is conducive to good health”.
Together, let us inspire, motivate, coordinate and empower individuals and organizations to achieve that outcome, accelerating towards a fairer, healthier more sustainable future for all.
I once again congratulate ThaiHealth on achieving this milestone and look forward to many more years of its impact and influence in Thailand, the South-East Asia Region and world.
Thank you.