The Director-General of the World Health Organisation, the Regional Director for South East Asia and Distinguished Delegates,
It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the Republic of Maldives. I am indeed happy that you have all accepted the Maldive Government’s invitation to hold the 33rd Session of the Regional Committee of the World Health Organisation for South East Asia in Male’.
I would like to wish you an enjoyable stay in Male’, and express my earnest hope that your deliberations will further enhance our combined efforts to attain the goal of a better life for millions of people in our region.
As I greet all the participants in this meeting on behalf of the Government and people of the Republic of Maldives and in my own name, I am particularly pleased to welcome the Director-General of the World Health Organisation, Dr. Halfden Mahler, and the Regional Director for South East Asia, Mr. V. T. H. Gunaratne. Mr. Mahler’s dedication to his difficult task and his tireless efforts in working out and implementing strategies for expanding the services of the important world organisation that he heads are fully appreciated by my Government.
I should like to pay a special tribute to our Regional Director, Dr. V. T. H. Gunaratne, who is vacating his post after thirteen years of invaluable service. We in the Maldives are indeed grateful to him for taking such a keen personal interest in providing advice and assistance to this country. When he relinquishes his responsibilities early next year, we will not only be losing the services of an excellent regional administrator but also the understanding, the compassion and the wise counsel of a good friend. On behalf of my Government and my people, I wish Dr. Gunaratne happiness, good health and many more rewarding years of work or leisure as he may choose.
This is the first time that a meeting of this magnitude is convened in Male’. But even from the modest standpoint of a very small nation, we are fully aware of the importance of this meeting and its noble aspirations of waging war on misery and disease.
As I face you across this hall, I recall the World Health Organisation’s momentous declaration of 1978 - “Health for all by the year 2000AD”. It is of special significance that this meeting is being held at a time when there is a universally collaborated effort to achieve this praiseworthy goal. We are all too conscious of the fact that health is the birthright of every individual, whether his habitation is confined to frozen wastes, to tropical deserts, or oceanic archipelagos. It is, therefore, the moral duty of every government to organise a comprehensive health service and translate it from a lofty ideal to a common sense reality which would reach out to the ordinary citizen everywhere. No efforts must be spared, however arduous or demanding they may be, in improving the health status of the general population of a country.
For us in the Maldives, this meeting has an added importance because our faith, Islam, advocates the attainment of the fullest degree of both physical and mental health. While the fundamental religious obligations in Islam require absolute personal cleanliness, certain dietary restrictions are meant to ensure the highest standards of physical well-being and mental alertness at all times.
Distinguished Delegates,
The policy of my Government in the vital area of public health is to endeavour for the provision of an overall distribution of basic health services to all citizens through the primary health care approach in keeping with the aims of the “Health for all by the year 2000” Declaration.
The basic component of our country health programme, which was launched with invaluable assistance from W. H. O., may be summed up as the translation of “Health for all Maldivians” in terms of upgrading and expanding our health services through the effective development of the Maldivian primary health care approach. Fortunately, or unfortunately, we are a nation of scattered islets where the lack of adequate transport facilities may be pinpointed as the major problem that impedes the efficient delivery of health care to all citizens. It is of vital importance, therefore, that practical solutions are found to ensure that health services will reach the majority of the people who live in the widely dispersed islands, and that health care becomes an essential ingredient of their everyday existence.
One of the biggest health problems in the Maldives is the lack of uncontaminated drinking water in any of the islands. The World Health Organisation estimates that 80% of all diseases in the world are water-related. In the light of this, the problem of water and sanitation becomes of paramount significance to all of us. The United Nations has with foresight declared the years 1981-1990 as the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade. With such a future target, we must co-ordinate our strategies for improving our water supply and sanitation facilities to enhance better health and greater resources for development.
In developing countries, in particular, where the problem of safe drinking water is more acute, top priority should be given to this area in their health programmes and in establishing development targets for the decade 1981-1990.
Distinguished Delegates,
At this moment, a Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly is being held in New York to consider the important issue of international economic development. If this special session is to achieve any positive results, a more effective formula must be found to implement the Resolution adopted by the General Assembly at its Sixth Special Session in May 1974, calling for the establishment of a New International Economic Order. All of us gathered here today must admit that unless a new international economic order is evolved in place of the existing colonial economic discipline, the liberation of man from poverty and pain, especially in the third world, will remain an eternal dream. The fundamental contradiction in the world today arises from the fact that the existing world economic system creates wealth and privilege for a few and agony and poverty for the vast majority. If this inequality is allowed to continue, it would mean the perpetuation of poverty for the majority of the world’s population. Such a fate is to be battled against, whatever the odds. It is imperative, therefore, that all countries of the world, irrespective of size, wealth or population, adopt a more give-and-take stance and promote international economic co-operation in order to establish a truly just and equitable international economic order.
In this connection, I should also like to mention the programme of technical co-operation among developing countries. It is by such exchange of technology and experience that our struggle for economic independence and progress can become a tangible reality. While pursuing economic development, we must not forego the fact that it must be simultaneous with health promotion. The eradication of disease should be a vital objective in any co-ordinated programme of national development, especially in the third world.
Before concluding my remarks, I should like to perform the pleasant duty of thanking the World Health Organisation and its Director-General, Dr. Halfden Mahler, on behalf of all participants in this meeting for the inestimable services rendered by that world body to promote good health and a better life for mankind. The Organisation’s policies have been shaped at global and regional levels in the light of changing world health needs. I am sure that all of us present here recognise the substantial work it has done over the past three decades to achieve its objective of eliminating the threat of disease and suffering faced by the majority of the world’s population.
I am happy to announce that the Maldives’ commitment to the adequate extension of health services in the country in accordance with the principles and policies of the World Health Organisation will find expression in our signing the Charter for Health Development today in this inaugural meeting.
Distinguished Delegates,
I earnestly hope that as a result of this Regional Committee meeting, there will emerge a set of sound decisions and strategies for the emancipation of the people of South East Asia from the plague of malady and death. Let us remember the Arabian proverb “He who has health, has hope; and he who has hope, has everything”. Let every human being be free of economic shackles!
Let every human being be safe from the threat of disease!
Let every human being enjoy the blessings of good health!
Let all present here today unite as one to ensure the continuation of this meritorious struggle to enable everyone of us to live in peace, harmony and freedom.