Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,
Good morning, good afternoon and good evening to all representatives from Small Island Developing States. Thank you for joining us.
Today is about you and the many health threats your nations face.
Many of you have succeeded in preventing widespread transmission of COVID-19 in your communities.
But I know the pandemic has hit you hard in other ways, such as declining revenues from tourism.
Last month I had the opportunity to speak with many heads of state and heads of government from the Eastern Caribbean, to learn about the impact the pandemic has had on their societies and economies, and to listen to their concerns about equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.
Through COVAX, we have so far been able to deliver nearly one million vaccines to 30 small island developing states, as well as other essential health products.
We know that this is nowhere near enough for your needs, and we are working actively to find ways of increasing production and equitable distribution of vaccines.
But even once the pandemic subsides, we know that many of you will still be left facing many of the same health challenges you had before it struck, including climate change and noncommunicable diseases.
As you know, one of the first initiatives we launched after my election as Director-General in 2017 was the Small Island Developing States Initiative on Climate Change and Health.
In 2019 I was privileged to visit several islands in the Pacific, including Fiji, Tahiti, Tuvalu and Tonga, to see the impact that climate change is having on these countries.
Later the same year I also visited the Bahamas in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian, to witness first-hand the devastating effects that our changing climate can have on small island developing states.
Next month, the SIDS Summit for Health will offer an opportunity to galvanize targeted support for a healthy and resilient future in Small Island Developing States.
The aim of the Summit is to help you better address the challenges you face, including how to safely resume tourism, alleviate debt burdens, increase affordable access to food, and to fight noncommunicable diseases.
That means strengthening financing, workforce capacity, data and evidence, and partnerships across SIDS.
It also means more partnership with other governments, civil society, academia, and the private sector.
WHO is committed to providing the support you need to build a healthier, safer and more sustainable future. And we also want to ensure that WHO support is fit-for-purpose in SIDS.
Today I am joined by Dr Naoko Yamamoto, Assistant Director-General for Healthier Populations, who with her team is leading the planning for the Summit.
Let me suggests three specific areas where WHO can offer its support.
First, WHO has helped to mobilize some funds for climate change readiness, adaptation, resilient health systems and food security in small island developing states.
Yet many of your nations still lack financing or the capacity to implement these policies. WHO offers our support to SIDS in better utilizing financing platforms, such as the Green Climate Fund.
Second, we can work with you to scale-up integrated services to prevent and fight obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and tobacco use.
Third, WHO will continue to support your efforts to progress towards universal health coverage, and to strengthen primary health care workforces and data platforms.
We will also continue our existing work with you to expand pooled procurement and regulatory schemes.
These are ideas that come from our discussions at country level. But we want to be sure that this Summit is focused on your priorities.
I look forward to hearing your comments and suggestions.
We hope, if you agree, for the Summit to issue a core statement that can be used as we move to the UN Food Systems Summit, to COP26 and to the Nutrition for Growth Summit later this year.
I turn now to Naoko to provide further details on our plans.
I may not be able to stay with you to hear your questions and discussion, but I will be receiving a full briefing on the results of today’s discussion, and I and my colleagues will be working with you closely to prepare for the Summit.
I thank you.