H.E. Mr. Somsak Thepsutin, Minister of Public Health
- H.E. Mr. Russ Jalichandra, Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs
- Senior officials from the Ministry of Public Health
- Senior officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- Partners, Colleagues and Friends,
A very good afternoon to you all.
As we know, SDG Target 3.8 enjoins us all to achieve Universal Health Coverage (or UHC).
UHC aims to ensure that everyone receives the essential health-care services they need, without facing financial hardship, and has access to essential medicines and vaccines for all.
This is a fundamental goal of health systems worldwide, to promote health equity and accessibility.
UHC covers the full continuum of essential health services - from health promotion to prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and palliative care across the life course.
The World Health Organization, and our South-East Asia Regional Office, is proud to be part of this vital effort to promote well-being for all, at all ages.
Health promotion is the process of enabling people to increase control over, and improve, their health. It moves beyond a focus on individual behaviour, towards a wide range of social and environmental interventions.
Health promotion can enhance UHC in several ways.
One is to focus on prevention over treatment. This can be done through health education and lifestyle changes, which reduces the burden on health systems, preventing costly treatments for preventable diseases.
Second is to ensure equitable access, through promoting awareness and making preventive care available to marginalized or underserved communities. Focusing on marginalized communities is, in fact, one of the pillars of our Regional Roadmap for our South-East Asia region.
Third, health promotion plays crucial role in empowering individuals and communities with the knowledge and tools to take control of their own health. This empowerment is a key component of UHC. It reduces reliance on the formal health system, improves health literacy and generates an enabling environment for healthy living.
Effective health promotion can also help reduce health care costs and expenditure. By promoting preventive measures, health promotion can reduce chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes, which require expensive long-term care.
Reducing these expenditures can strengthen health systems toward essential services for more people. Investing in health promotion, and preventive health measures such as vaccine campaigns, yields long-term savings by reducing the need for hospital admissions and costly medical procedures.
Globally, health promotion is proven to lead to a healthier workforce, reducing absenteeism and increasing productivity. A healthier population, including healthy aging, also lowers economic burdens due to disability or early mortality.
Ladies and gentlemen,
To truly transform UHC for equitable health, health promotion must be integrated to national health policies. We need to invest in it to ensure that it is prioritized alongside with curative and emergency care. We can – and should - push for policies that integrate health and wellbeing into all sectors – including housing, transportation, and more.
The return on investment for effective health promotion can be substantial, including economic benefits, and long-term financial and social gains. Interventions that target social determinants help create active and more productive populations. This in turn improves the quality of life and reduces inequality. No other health interventions can be as effective in generating social well-being.
While I am not able to address you in person today, a few days ago I was at Thailand’s National Health Assembly. There, I witnessed the power of effective multisectoral coordination. UHC cannot be achieved without support from society at large, and forums such as your Health Assembly give our region a wonderful example of social participation and civic engagement.
As I conclude, I would like to reiterate our commitment to you in your journey towards sustainable UHC through health promotion. We stand by you as WHO, and as the South-East Asia Regional Office - and I personally assure you of our partnership and collaboration in all your efforts.
Thank you.