Your Excellency, Hon’ble Minister of Health, Mr Ahmed Naseem; State Ministers, Dr Shah Abdullah Mahir, Mr Ahmed Adil, Mr Mohamed Zuhair, and Ms Aishath Rasheed; Deputy Ministers, Ms Saffia Mohamed Saeed, Mr Shamau Shareef, and Mr Abdul Shakoor Abdul Hakeem; Permanent Secretary, Ms Aishath Samiya; Director General of Health Services, Dr Ahmed Ashraf; Director General of Public Health, Ms Maimoona Aboobakuru; Quality Commissioner, Ms Thasleema Usman; DDGs, WR, colleagues and friends,
It is my pleasure to be back in Maldives, to receive your warm hospitality, and to help launch this path-breaking project – a project that speaks to the needs not just of today, but of tomorrow, as together we build back better from the COVID-19 pandemic.
I first want to congratulate Maldives on its response to the COVID-19 pandemic – a response that has not only saved lives, but also livelihoods, protecting key sectors that are critical to overall social and economic development, and the health and well-being it brings.
And I also congratulate Maldives on its many public health achievements: In 2015, eliminating malaria. In 2016, eliminating lymphatic filariasis. In 2017, eliminating measles. In 2019, eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis. And in 2020, eliminating rubella.
Maldives has already achieved Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets on under-five and neonatal mortality, and surpassed the global indicative threshold of 44.5 doctors, nurses and midwives per 10 000 population.
Ninety-six per cent of all Maldivians have access to basic handwashing facilities, and between 2010 and 2019, Maldives reduced out-of-pocket expenditure for health from 40% to 16.5%, the second lowest in the Region.
By 2025 or earlier, Maldives aims to eliminate TB and continues to work towards achieving 100 leprosy-free islands.
These are tremendous achievements backed by a far-reaching, ambitious yet attainable vision, and a clear sense of what is possible when health and well-being are prioritized at the highest levels.
Like so many countries, Maldives has for several years been undergoing an epidemiological transition, from a high burden of communicable diseases to an increasing burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs).
Today, the first four leading causes of death in Maldives are cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic kidney diseases and respiratory conditions.
NCDs are estimated to account for 84% of all deaths in Maldives.
Out of every 100 adults between 15-69 years, 16 have diabetes and 27 have high blood pressure, as per WHO’s first nation-wide STEPS survey of NCD risk factors. More than a quarter are tobacco users.
For the foreseeable future, NCDs – including mental health issues – will be a major public health and development challenge, not only in Maldives, but across our Region, which is why the Faafu Atoll project is so important.
You are aware: A core pillar of the Region’s build back better vision is reorienting health systems towards quality, accessible, affordable and comprehensive primary health care (PHC), the most efficient and equitable way to achieve universal health coverage, which since 2014 has been a Flagship Priority.
For that, the Faafu Atoll project will show how best to reorient NCD services specifically, providing a working model not just for Maldives, but for the Region and world.
In doing so, the project will conduct population-level screening for select NCDs such as diabetes, hypertension and dyslipidemia; strengthen healthy lifestyle counselling; and identify and refer common cancers and select mental health conditions – all at the primary level.
It will aid in the development of a service delivery model for integration; for conducting training-needs analysis and capacity development plans; and for carrying out effective monitoring and evaluation.
Among other areas of support, my in-country team has helped develop a Primary Health Care Registry on DHIS2, which will be used for screening and monitoring, and to establish an Island Health Profile database.
Need it be said: My team and I look very much forward to supporting the project in every way possible, in line with the vision of His Excellency, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, to re-establish and strengthen PHC services.
And we also look forward to supporting the full implementation of Maldives’ new Multi-sectoral Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of NCDs 2021–2030, and to accelerating progress to achieve the 25 by 30 target, as all of the health-related SDGs.
I once again extend my sincere gratitude to His Excellency, the Hon’ble Minister of Health, and wish this project and Maldives all success in its onward journey towards health and well-being for all people, at all ages, across this unique and visionary country.
Thank you.