On the occasion of the Opening of the 59th World Health Assembly

Madame President,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Secretary-General Kofi Annan has asked me to convey to this distinguished gathering his good wishes for the success of the 59th World Health Assembly. The Secretary-General has also asked me to convey to the World Health Assembly, to the World health Organization and its staff his sincere condolences on this sudden and tragic loss of Director-General Dr. Lee. The Secretary-General extends his most heartfelt condolences to Dr. Lee’s family.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The agenda before this Assembly reflects both the existing and emerging concerns of the international community in the public health area. The international community is on the verge of eradicating long-standing killers such as polio through a sustained, concerted, collective effort. Yet, year after year, malaria and tuberculosis, the HIV/AIDS pandemic continue to decimate communities across the world.

The persistent outbreaks of avian flu and SARS around the world remind us all that we must remain vigilant and prepared in order to avoid the virulence and potential impact of a global health threat in a Globalized world.

At this Assembly, you will focus attention on the chronic worldwide shortage of well-trained health workers. As documented in your 2006 World Heath Report entitled “Working together for Health”, addressing this global shortage in health workers is one of the world’s most pressing challenges. Addressing it successfully will remove one of the most difficult obstacles to development.

In both developed and developing countries there is constant shortage of well-trained health workers. Although the shortage is global, it is most acutely felt in the developing countries, which need them most. For many reasons, such as migration, lack of resources, illness or death - mainly from HIV/AIDS - of health workers, countries are unable to educate and sustain the necessary health workforce that would improve chances of survival and ensure the well being of their citizens.

A vital component in the maintenance and strengthening of health systems are people. But it takes considerable investment in time and money to train health workers. That investment comes both from individuals and from national and international institutional resources, which are very scarce. Developing countries need what small skilled health workforce they do have to remain in place and work, so that those in most need could benefit from their professional expertise. When health workers leave to work elsewhere, there is a loss of years of investment and a loss of hope.

It is clear that to protect and improve the health of people worldwide, and to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, we need to rapidly bolster the global health workforce. Africa alone will require 1 million new health workers to achieve the Goals. Without such a dramatic increase in capacity, paediatric immunizations will not be administered, infectious outbreaks will not be contained, curable diseases will remain untreated, and women will keep dying needlessly at childbirth.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

So far, solutions to these problems have eluded us, and there is no consensus on how to proceed. Redressing the problems in each individual country involves putting in place a chain of cooperation and shared commitment among all domestic stakeholders: the public and private sectors, between those who plan and influence staffing and those able to make financial commitments, as well as within the health workforce itself. Working together domestically for health is key to success.

However, we need to work equally hard at the global level to address the variety of old and new challenges in the area of public health that we face throughout the world. This requires firm partnerships globally among all stakeholders: governments, international organization, international donors, civil society, the private sector and media. These partnerships together with the provision of adequate resources and the dissemination of reliable science-based information need to go hand in hand so that we can face these challenges and turn them into opportunities for all.

I sincerely hope that in your deliberations you will be able to advance towards these objectives and I wish you a very successful 59th World Health Assembly.

Thank you.