INTERVENTION BY MINISTER FOR HEALTH MR ONG YE KUNG AT THE G20 HEALTH MINISTERIAL MEETING IN SOUTH AFRICA

          Thank you chair. Dumelang Sanibonani. Let me just focus on one aspect of the Chair’s statement, which is on multilateralism and the role of the World Health Organization (WHO).

2          As a small country, Singapore appreciates and values multilateralism in tackling the issues of the world, and many delegates talked about how it is important that we work together on pandemic preparedness. But the achievements of multilateralism in health went way beyond that. Humankind, we have eradicated smallpox, nearly eradicated polio, and collectively reduced the use of tobacco. I am very happy that during this meeting, I have not seen a single person smoke. We standardised the way we classify diseases, established the International Health Regulations on how countries detect, assess, report and manage public health events, and we concluded a Pandemic Agreement post COVID-19.

3          These are tremendous achievements and we need to push on with these efforts. We can achieve more in the next 80 years than the last 80. 

4          But multilateralism is facing some headwinds. The WHO is facing a significant reduction in budget. But we should take all this in our stride, and in fact, see this as an opportunity for the WHO to sharpen its focus and priorities and enhance its cost effectiveness. After all, necessity is the mother of invention. WHO has indeed taken very decisive steps; we should all encourage and applaud. There is a lesson in history, which is that whatever the obstacles in multilateralism, and there will be more ahead of us, we must always press on, always collaborate, prioritise our efforts and for international institutions to be accountable to their member states.  

5          Singapore hopes that all member states will continue to commit ourselves to taking collective action to tackle the gravest health challenges of the world. Let me end my short intervention with a sincere thank you and let me try this. Ke a leboga haholo, Ngiyabonga kakhulu.