Mr Chairman,

Distinguished Representatives,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

This meeting is taking place as we mark an impressive health achievement in the South-East Asia Region. We are watching the eradication of polio as it takes place. We are witnessing a public health sensation. Millions of children have been immunized through repeated campaigns. Surveillance has been built up to a level previously thought to be impossible. Hundreds of thousands of volunteers have been mobilized. They have worked hard under difficult conditions, especially in conflict affected regions.

The efforts now made to ensure the eradication of polio are among the largest and most impressive public health interventions the world has witnessed. Last year alone, 550 million - 85 per cent - of the world’s children were immunized. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative, has reduced the number of cases by 99 per cent. 3,500 cases were reported world-wide in the year 2000. So far this year, there were only 266 confirmed cases of polio globally. Only 56 cases have been reported in this region. This means that three million people in the developing world, who would have been paralysed, are walking today.

Through the polio campaign, people are seeing how health action brings results. In years to come, benefits of this action will stretch beyond the eradication of polio. Health systems will have been strengthened and made more effective. Public health programmes will have a viable infrastructure. Thousands of health personnel and volunteers will take on new tasks with pride and commitment.

We are inspired by what has been achieved and we move forward to address other health challenges in this region. The tasks are daunting. How can we enable all people to access health systems that are efficient, equitable, and respond well to their health needs? How can we improve services for people who are the hardest to access - whether because of their poverty, their location or their gender? How can we better address communicable diseases, challenges faced by pregnant women and children, the epidemics of noncommunicable illness, and illness related to environmental issues?

My answers are straightforward. First, we need to see a significant increase in available resources for health. Second, we must ensure that these resources are used in ways that bring health benefits to all.

Within the last year we have seen growing global awareness of the need to invest much more in people's health as a basis for broader social and economic development.

In four months time, I will receive the report of the Commission on Macroeconomics and Health. I expect the Commissioners, led by Professor Jeffrey Sachs, to call for a dramatic and rapid increase in action for better health.

The international community is starting to respond, building on efforts already underway in many nations. At the World Health Assembly, at the UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS, and at the G8 Summit, we heard commitments to increase resources for global health. Public, voluntary and private sector bodies are already making new commitments.

The Global AIDS and Health Fund will be an important part of this much-needed scaling up. It is planned that the Fund be operational by the end of the year. As part of the transitional working group designing the Fund, WHO wants to be sure that it stimulates a build-up of national health system capacity. We would like the Fund to help governments and civil society to enhance health systems. This means focusing on priorities, on the coverage and quality of interventions, and on careful monitoring of what is achieved. The result should be an increase in the efficiency with which health systems use scarce resources to achieve better health outcomes for all.

WHO sees the need for this Fund to live up to its name and be a global fund. This means that it should bring benefits to people in need within all regions, including this one.

The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization shows what can be achieved. The Alliance is two years old. It has established a Vaccine Fund, which received a generous initial contribution of US$750 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Vaccine Fund provides resources for countries. The members of the Alliance work with countries to strengthen the performance of their health systems in immunizing children. WHO - as a key member of this alliance - makes all of its technical expertise available to help strengthen national vaccine programmes and introduce new vaccines when needed.

GAVI responds to country-level priorities, working with governments and civil society to make the best use of resources available for health system action. Support has already reached several countries in this region because the countries are committed to improving their children’s access to vaccines.

As experience is gained, the GAVI Board reviews lessons learned. Board members adjust the ways in which the Alliance works to ensure flexible and effective responses to countries' immunization needs. GAVI can act as a pathfinder for other health actions too. In last week's Regional Committee meeting in Africa I heard Ministers indicate how GAVI experience will inform their contributions to the design of the new AIDS and Health Fund.

Mr Chairman, Distinguished Representatives,

I would like to focus on other health issues of concern to us all. I start with a focus on those who are at risk from, or are infected with, HIV.

Understandably, much of the attention to HIV/AIDS has been directed towards Africa. But we estimate that more than five million people are living with HIV within the South-East Asia Region. The trends are not good.

The UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV in July this year indicates the strategies and interventions that can halt the spread of HIV infection. All of us are committed to responding better - helping people prevent themselves from infection, and increasing the proportions of HIV-affected people who can access care for their illnesses.

But it is not easy to scale up our response to this unprecedented health crisis. It calls for an extra-ordinary and courageous response. Experience shows how hesitation and delay in the early stages of an HIV epidemic lead to devastating consequences for the whole of society. It is essential that we see the systematic and co-ordinated implementation of effective strategies within this region - soon. The alternative - an explosive increase in the incidence of HIV infection and AIDS-related deaths - is unacceptable.

I have directed that WHO scales up its contribution to the struggle. Our goal is to help identify more effective responses and implement them effectively in ways that take account of people's cultural traditions and social realities. Together with the other co-sponsors of UNAIDS, and both government and non-governmental development partners, we are working to adapt evidence-based practice to the needs of people. To obtain evidence on what works, we coordinate and take forward extensive research in the fields of diagnostics, spermicides, vaccine development, operational research on care and support, and assessments of programme effectiveness.

To this end we have reorganized and substantially increased WHO's contribution to HIV/AIDS action. We are now in a better position to respond promptly - and effectively - to countries' requests for assistance. We will continue to improve this response in succeeding years.

Mr Chairman,

The burden of mental ill health and brain disorders is a serious global challenge. In most countries the resources and the manpower available to tackle mental ill health are sparse. But new and more effective means are now available to treat and prevent brain disorders and mental illness. As a result, modern mental health care is focusing more on supporting the family within the local community. It is geared to prevention, early detection and treatment and uses effective and relatively inexpensive medicines.

Experience from countries within this South-East Asia Region shows how governments can reform mental health care so that it is based within the community and backed by effective and humane mental health legislation.

The forthcoming World Health Report, to be released on 4 October, focuses on mental health. It provides a global overview of the current and future burden of mental ill health and their main contributing factors. It offers strategies for ensuring that effective prevention and treatment are both put in place and adequately funded.

Throughout this region, countries are working hard to improve the overall effectiveness of their health systems. They recognize the need for reliable information - both on the burden of disease and on health system responses. There are several examples of national, inter-country and inter-regional disease surveillance initiatives. WHO is involved in most of them. During the last two years, disease surveillance within this region has enabled effective responses to more than 20 outbreaks of cholera, acute diarrhoeal disease, dengue, dengue haemorrhagic fever, malaria, japanese encephalitis, anthrax, rabies and hand-foot-and-mouth disease.

Regional Offices are a critical element of WHO-wide support to countries as they cope with disease outbreaks. WHO is helping all countries to strengthen their surveillance systems through initiatives handled by the Regional Offices. This is not visible or high-profile work, but it is vitally important if populations at risk are to have sustainable futures.

Policymakers and programme staff need to make informed decisions about how best to allocate all resources for health action. They need regular assessments of the status of their people's health and the working of health systems. To this end, some countries have initiated regular national health surveys. WHO is ready and keen to help countries as they undertake these surveys.

Mr Chairman,

Tobacco is an increasing threat to the health of people throughout the nations of South-East Asia. Countries have initiated responses which help reduce the uptake of smoking by young people, or help those who wish to quit to do so. But there is much more to be done to curtail the efforts of those who encourage tobacco use - and resulting ill health. That is why governments within the region are playing their part in the negotiations of WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

During the second round of negotiations in May, the first draft of the Convention document was debated at length. The next round of the negotiation process will take place in November. I am confident that Member States will agree a Convention that really helps countries to confront the threat of tobacco for their people. I stress the need for countries to continue to be engaged until the convention has been finalized - hopefully in 2003.

We are now confronted, each day, with controversies about access to health care, and to the results of medical research. We read of even more exciting new advances with real potential to prolong life and improve well-being. Yet in our daily work we see the difficulties people face as they try to access inexpensive care for malaria or TB that is already available and known to work. Each day health professionals in this region make difficult choices about how to allocate their resources. They wonder, for example, when the results of recent advances in genetics will have a positive impact on the health of ordinary people in the region.

WHO's Regional Offices and departments in Headquarters are helping countries to start to handle complex ethical issues - such as codes of conduct for research involving human subjects. It is now time to draw together this work, providing Member States with the opportunity to share experiences, establish consensus and be in a better position to handle individual ethical challenges.

I therefore propose to establish a WHO-wide initiative on health ethics which focuses on Ethics in Public Health, Health Research Ethics and Biotechnology Ethics. This will include ethical aspects of genome related work, stem cell research, cloning and other ethical areas of biomedical science. The initiative would be designed to help increase Member States' capacities to handle ethical issues, and to provide support for inter-governmental action on health and ethics issues.

The issue of genetically modified food is one area where health, ethics and economics have come together, and there have been some tensions. But genetically modified food crops are already in widespread use. They have the potential to increase food production - steeply. They can reduce levels of nutritional deficiency. But are these products safe and beneficial for consumers? Negative effects are possible, especially if such products are too expensive for poorer people or have not been adequately tested. It is thus vital that authorities with responsibility for food standards and safety always focus primarily on the well-being of consumers, and not on the profits of producers or suppliers. WHO is stepping up its co-operation with FAO to help countries answer questions about the safety of all foods - including those that have been genetically modified.

Links between the environment and health are also of increasing concern in this region. Countries in South-East Asia are severely affected by the global problem of arsenic contamination of drinking water. At least 30 million people from the region are at risk from arsenic related diseases. There are no easy solutions to this problem, and WHO offers technical support to national governments as they establish and implement strategies to deal with arsenic contamination.

Chairman,

All WHO's work is for countries, but only a part of it is in countries. Country work, though, is critical, and our country representatives are at the centre of all we seek to do.

We are committed to improving the capacity of the WHO teams within countries who need us the most, so that they are better equipped to contribute to better and more equitable health outcomes. WHO country representatives and Regional Offices will play a central role in making this happen. They will build on our recent experiences with establishing strategies for our co-operation with individual countries.

The work of WHO's Regional Offices and departments in Headquarters is summarized within the corporate strategy for WHO's Secretariat that was agreed by Member States during 1999. This is the basis of the General Programme of work for 2002 to 2005. During 2000, the Secretariat established a Strategic Programme Budget, identifying 35 areas of work across the Organization. This formed the basis for the expected results, milestones, activities and allocation of regular and extra-budgetary resources for the 2002-2003 biennium.

I will be working with the Regional Directors over the coming months to develop a proposed set of global priorities for the next period, 2004-2005. We will draw on your deliberations at this Regional Committee. My proposals will then be presented to the Executive Board when it meets in Geneva in January 2002.

Mr Chairman, Distinguished Representatives,

As health professionals, we all face enormous challenges. People's expectations are greater than ever. We respond to their legitimate expectations in ways that promote equity of health outcomes and contribute to reductions in levels of poverty.

We must answer the needs of the people we serve. For - their well-being is our responsibility; their suffering and ill health is our failure.

These values underlie all our actions - as WHO Member States and as the Secretariat.

Let us work together for a constructive and successful meeting, and for effective health action throughout the region in the coming year.

Thank you.