INTERVENTION BY MR ONG YE KUNG, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AT THE 77TH WORLD HEALTH ASSEMBLY, 28 MAY 2024

Chair

Excellencies

Ladies and gentlemen

1.        Today, the biggest challenges are global in nature. Climate change, depletion of natural resources, peace and stability of the world, cyber security, and global pandemics, they affect every nation and every creed, and do not respect borders.

2.        Global challenges deserve global responses. The question before humanity today is whether we still have right international platforms and governance structures for us coordinate our actions as a global community. 

3.        Human civilisation took a major leap after World War II. From the ashes of the war, the world established international institutions like the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and later the World Trade Organization, and then World Health Organization (WHO). Through them, we are able to get together as sovereign nation states to coordinate our responses to global problems. 

4.        The path to global solutions is never easy. Nations have to find our commonality between domestic pressures and the global good. We maintain our sovereignty as independent nations, while being enlightened to do our part for global responses.

5.        Our delegates spent the last two years discussing the Pandemic Agreement.  Unfortunately, it was fraught with discord and disagreements. As time goes by, the imperative wanes, while distrust arising from inequity of vaccines and therapeutics lingers.

6.        But for the sake of humanity, we should not give up. There are many things we still can do together. First, the International Health Regulations (IHR). This has been our main framework to forge international co-operation to tackle the international spread of diseases. At this World Health Assembly, we should continue to strengthen the IHR so that we can enhance capacities of countries, especially developing countries, to detect and respond to threats before they become cross-border health emergencies. 

7.        Second, like-minded cities and nations around the world, especially transport nodes like Singapore, can also do our part to forge a network of pathogen surveillance centres, to warn the world of emerging dangers.  

8.        Third, scientists will continue to collaborate to fulfil the 100-day Mission to develop vaccines in record time. Pharmaceutical industry and Governments can invest ahead to build up production capacity. 

9.        The work of the WHO must go on because the health and well-being of the world is dependent on it. And if there is collective will to forge a Pandemic Agreement in due course, WHO can count on Singapore’s sincere and self-enlightened support. 

10.       Thank you.