Executive Secretary's statement(041201)

Subcommittee on Health and Development
First session
1-3 December 2004
Bangkok

OPENING STATEMENT OF
MR. KIM HAK-SU
EXECUTIVE SECRETARY
OF UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMISSION FOR ASIA
AND THE PACIFIC

(Wednesday, 1 December 2004)

Dr. Vichai Tienthavorn, Permanent Secretary for Public Health, Ministry of Public Health, Thailand.
Your Excellency, Mr. Moon Kyung-Tae, Deputy Minister for Planning and Management, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Republic of Korea,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my honour to welcome you all to the inaugural session of the first intergovernmental meeting on health and development in the ESCAP region, formally known as the Subcommittee on Health and Development.

The Asian and Pacific region is at the mid-point of a major health transition. There are four key features of this transition:

Communicable diseases such as HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria continue to pose serious threats.
Child and maternal mortality rates remain unacceptably high in many parts of the region.
At the same time, non-communicable diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease and mental illness, have quietly crept upon us and assumed pandemic proportions.
Fifteen years ago, communicable diseases accounted for 50 percent of the disease burden, while non-communicable diseases accounted for 35 percent.
In 15 years from now, the balance will have dramatically shifted.
Non-communicable diseases will account for 67 percent and communicable diseases only 15 percent of the region's disease burden.
There is fundamental change in the way that people eat, live, work, spend their leisure time, move about. Lifestyles are becoming much more sedentary, with far less scope for physical activity. More refined foods are now eaten. We consume less fibre, but more salt and sugar than our bodies require. The result is a new phenomenon of obese children and adults.
Obesity greatly increases the risk of heart disease and diabetes, stroke, hypertension, and many kinds of cancer.
Injuries will also have risen to 18 percent of that disease burden.
Newly emerging infectious diseases, in the form of SARS and bird flu, have in the past 18 months hit this region. These has been considerable economic impact and social disruption wrought by outbreaks of these two new infectious diseases. Their speed of transmission has highlighted the need for more comprehensive public health surveillance systems and the value of stronger inter-country cooperation in controlling the cross-border spread of disease.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Health is determined not only by individual choice and bio-medical factors, but also by policy decisions on a range of economic, social and environmental determinants. To improve the health population groups, it is necessary to influence factors outside the direct purview of the health sector. Those are factors that determine:

Freedom from hunger and income poverty;
Access to clean water and adequate sanitation;
Adequate housing;
Universal access to education;
Safety in the physical environment and the workplace; and
Reduced level of contamination of air, water, soil, and food chains.

The major health transition under way in the region is occurring in a landscape marked by pervasive health inequalities. The poor are disproportionately exposed to the causes of ill health. The poor tend to have higher levels of morbidity and to die earlier. Health systems in many countries lack capacity in terms of delivery outreach and service quality. They do not sufficiently reach the poor and other vulnerable groups.

Many countries in the region are not well prepared to deal with these health problems. Investments in health are often inadequate, while existing investments are inefficiently spent.

What can we do about the health transition and health inequalities?

At the outset, governments of the ESCAP region must recognize the seriousness of these problems and commit at all levels to improving the health status of populations.

The next step is to consider the following key points for action to address those problems:

One, focused action in the health sector must be as strongly complemented by multisectoral action to tackle the economic, social and environmental factors that impact on health.

Two, ESCAP countries and territories need to strengthen efforts toward achievement of the internationally agreed development goals, namely the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which serve as excellent reference points for targeted national action to improve health. Real progress toward MDG achievement can only be made by integrating health concerns into the overall development process.

Third, it is just as important to optimize the utilization of available funds, as it is to increase investment in health, as increased funding per se would not suffice.

Fourth, managing globalization, which has an impact on access to essential medicines and the structure of health systems, is integral to protecting public health.

Last but not least, the key lies in building partnerships and empowering communities.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

This forum provides a unique opportunity to chart a new course on health and development that could impact two-thirds of the world's population in the new millennium. I am particularly pleased that many of you work in diverse development sectors that have a profound influence on health.

I am confident that your deliberations will yield tangible results in the form of a framework for strategic action on improving health in the ESCAP region.

I wish you the very best for this important task and a pleasant stay in Bangkok.

Thank you.