Chair, Minister Zheng Zhe,
Excellencies, honourable ministers and heads of delegation,
My brother, Dr Saia Piukala, Regional Director for the Western Pacific,
Staff of the regional and country offices, dear colleagues and friends,
Good morning, and it’s an honour to be back in Manila.
Let me start by thanking the Government and people of the Philippines for hosting the Regional Office, and for your longstanding commitment to health and to the World Health Organization.
I also thank my brother Dr Saia Piukala for his leadership, and the staff of the regional and country offices for their hard work through a very challenging period.
You have continued to serve Member States while adapting to financial pressure and organizational change.
Despite these challenges, the Regional Director’s report shows many achievements to celebrate.
I congratulate Australia on eliminating trachoma as a public health problem, and Malaysia on maintaining its elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
The Pacific was also verified as having eliminated measles and rubella, and Cambodia, China, Lao PDR and Solomon Islands are all making encouraging progress towards disease elimination targets.
On health security, notification times for public health events have dropped from 20 days to 48 hours, and the region’s Emergency Medical Teams have increased from 13 to 18.
Countries have also continued to advance primary health care and universal health coverage.
The new Universal Health Coverage Hub in Tokyo will help connect global expertise with country action – and I thank the Government of Japan for its partnership.
Tobacco use continued to decline across the region, and several countries strengthened taxation and regulation of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products.
Countries are strengthening immunization; integrating services for hypertension, obesity, mental health, alcohol control and oral health into primary health care, and I congratulate Australia on its decisive action to protect young people from the harms of social media.
The Region is also leading on the health response to climate change.
The Asia-Pacific Centre for Environment and Health in the Republic of Korea is helping countries turn evidence into practical action for climate-resilient health systems.
I also recognize Fiji, Australia and Tuvalu for co-hosting this month’s Pre-COP, which brought the health consequences of climate change for island communities directly into the global discussion.
These are significant achievements. But they sit alongside significant challenges.
More than 840 million people in the Region still cannot easily access essential health services.
Almost 600 million face financial hardship because of health spending.
Noncommunicable diseases are rising, and hypertension control remains far too low.
1.7 million children have still not received routine vaccinations; tuberculosis dengue, avian influenza and vaccine-preventable diseases remain persistent threats; and antimicrobial resistance continues to spread.
Health workforce shortages and maldistribution limit access, especially in remote and island communities.
Climate change is intensifying extreme heat, storms, floods, food and water insecurity, and straining fragile health facilities.
Many countries depend heavily on imported medical products and vulnerable supply chains.
Meanwhile, ageing populations, rapid technological change, misinformation and shrinking fiscal space are placing new demands on health systems.
Your agenda addresses several of these challenges directly.
Your discussions on artificial intelligence are an opportunity to ensure that AI is safe, ethical and equitable; that it strengthens rather than fragments health systems; and that countries with fewer resources are not left behind.
I welcome the Republic of Korea’s initiative to establish a Global AI Hub, and encourage the Region to use it to build public-sector capacity and share practical solutions.
On hypertension, the task is clear: find the undiagnosed, treat them with standardized protocols through primary care, and keep them in care.
On immunization, we must close zero-dose gaps and restore routine coverage before outbreaks expose those gaps for us.
On tobacco control, I urge you to strengthen taxation, enforcement, advertising bans and regulation of new nicotine products.
I also welcome the ministerial roundtable on a regional essential health stockpile and pooled procurement mechanism.
By pooling demand and strengthening readiness, countries can lower prices, secure supplies and reduce dependency on fragile global markets.
Strengthening local and regional production of vaccines and other medical products is one of the many lessons of COVID-19, as you know.
That’s why WHO established the mRNA technology transfer programme in South Africa and the Biomanufacturing Workforce Training Initiative in the Republic of Korea.
We also strengthened every dimension of global health security: early warning, finance like the Pandemic Fund that was established, equitable sharing of medical countermeasures, the Bio Hub for pathogen information sharing, and more.
Most importantly, Member States took historic steps to strengthen the international legal framework for global health security.
In 2024 they adopted amendments to the International Health Regulations, and last year the WHO Pandemic Agreement, a landmark instrument of international law.
The final piece of the puzzle is the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing, or PABS, system, which countries are still negotiating.
Of course differences remain. But I am confident that countries will find common ground, as you did with the agreement itself.
I thank the Member States of this region for the active role you have played in the negotiations, and I urge you to continue to contribute to finding a consensus. There will always be a middle ground.
It’s essential we do, so the Pandemic Agreement can open for signature, be ratified and enter into force.
The next pandemic will not wait. Already this year we have had two stark reminders of that threat.
First, the hantavirus outbreak on board the cruise ship MV Hondius, with most of the passengers from Britain and the United States, and the crew mostly from this country, the Philippines. Through cooperation with many countries and partners, it was rapidly brought under control.
Soon after came the seventeenth Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
We see some positive signs in that outbreak, but it is still far too early to declare victory.
I thank the countries of this region supporting the response.
That response has been made more difficult by recent funding cuts.
Although our greatest concern is the impact on countries, the past 18 months were also challenging for WHO itself.
Sudden funding cuts forced us to reduce our budget and workforce.
Many friends and partners were genuinely concerned about WHO’s future.
But I have always believed the biggest risk to WHO is not losing funding but losing our integrity.
Funding can be restored, and that is why we are managing. But once integrity is lost, it is very difficult to recover.
That is the choice WHO faced over the last few years. We chose to protect our integrity, stand with science, and manage the financial consequences.
I can assure you that we have now reached stability, and are moving forward as a leaner, more focused Organization, better equipped to serve Member States.
By many measures, WHO is in a strong financial position.
Since I became Director-General, our reserves have doubled and our budget has grown by 23%, and we are now fully funded for the current biennium, 2026-27.
However, most voluntary contributions remain earmarked, leaving pockets of poverty in parts of our work.
That’s why the plan by Member States in 2022 to progressively increase assessed contributions to 50% of the base budget is so important. Thank you for your decision in 2022 to double the assessed contributions (A.C.).
The first two increases helped to mitigate the impact of the funding cuts. Without them, we would have lost many more colleagues.
You can see how the A.C. increase contributed to sustainable financing.
Approving the next three increases – starting at next year’s World Health Assembly – is essential for protecting WHO’s integrity, independence and expertise.
Indeed, last year’s prioritization and realignment exercise aimed to protect WHO’s technical expertise as far as possible.
Most of the headcount reduction was achieved through retirement, early retirement and abolishing non-essential vacant positions.
Then we cut from the top, halving the number of Assistant Directors-General, and reducing directors by almost half, meaning reducing the administrative costs and saving experts.
Headquarters absorbed most of the impact of forced separations. In the Western Pacific Region, 34 positions were lost to forced separation, because we minimized it by absorbing most at HQ level.
The Regional Office has also worked to protect country capacity.
This is also the focus of Action for Results Group, which is building an effective, efficient, empowered, and results-focused country presence through the Core Country Office Model.
I believe strongly that WHO can do more with less – which does not mean working our staff even harder.
It means leveraging our unique convening power, including our network of Collaborating Centres – a rich resource of expertise across the full breadth of our work that we have not fully tapped.
That’s why in April we convened the first Global Forum of WHO Collaborating Centres, and why plan another next year.
I know this idea is not new to you in the Western Pacific.
For more than a decade, the Regional Office has convened forums for WHO collaborating centres.
You have shown what we need to do globally.
Doing more with less also means leveraging the global health architecture.
Recent financing shocks exposed weaknesses across that architecture that can no longer be ignored: duplication, fragmentation, competition for resources, and systems that do not always respond to country priorities.
WHO plays a unique and irreplaceable role but we cannot do everything, and others do some things better than us. We have to understand that.
In May, the World Health Assembly asked the Secretariat to host a joint process to make the global health architecture more country-centred, inclusive and transparent.
A Task Force has been established and will report later this year.
This Region must have a strong voice in shaping that reform.
I recognize China's role as co-chair, together with Germany, and also from this Region Japan and Malaysia as members.
The Western Pacific brings perspectives the global process needs, from large economies and ageing societies to small island states on the front line of climate change; from centres of technological innovation to communities where geography still determines access to care.
Chair, Honourable Ministers, dear colleagues and friends,
As you know, this is my final Regional Committee meeting for the Western Pacific as Director-General. My tenure ends in August 2027.
In my final 10 months, I have four particular requests.
First, I ask you to approve the next increase in assessed contributions at next year's World Health Assembly.
The first two increases have made WHO more resilient and independent, and helped us minimize the impact of funding cuts.
It is the broader revenue base that will make WHO more sustainable and independent.
We must continue that path.
Together with those approved in 2023 and 2025, this increase will be a valuable gift to the next Director-General, whoever that may be.
Second, I ask you to consolidate the hard work of transformation, prioritization and realignment to build a WHO better positioned to serve Member States with neutrality, impartiality and integrity.
Third, I ask you to engage actively in reforming the global health architecture. Do not leave the design of the future system to others because this is your responsibility.
Make sure it reflects the needs of this Region and puts countries at the centre.
Fourth, I ask you to finalize the PABS annex, so that the Pandemic Agreement can be ratified and enter into force.
Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,
It has been the greatest honour of my life to serve you as Director-General.
I thank the Member States of the Western Pacific for your support over the past nine years, your commitment to multilateralism, and the leadership this Region continues to provide. I have asked many things and gotten all the support I needed. I thank you very much.
I look forward to your support in the coming year.
And I remain committed to serving you, and the people of this Region, with everything I have until the end of my tenure.
Finally, I thank you. Mabuhay.