The World Health Day 2007 Welcome Lunch

02 Apr 2007

By Mr Khaw Boon Wan, Minister for Health

Venue: Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre

Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization,

Distinguished colleagues,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We are here today to commemorate the World Health Day. For Health Ministers, it is a good time to pause and reflect on the state of health of our people. Is it better than last year? What else do we need to do so that our people's health will be better next year?

Occasionally, it is useful to have such reflections in a group, rather than in solitude. This is so that we can benefit from one another's experience and advice. After all, our problems are common and there is little point in reinventing the wheel. 

That is why when Dr Margaret Chan proposed to hold a World Health Day event outside of Geneva and suggested that Singapore jointly hosts it, we accepted her proposal immediately. It will provide a wonderful opportunity for our colleagues to reflect on World Health Day and what else we can collectively do to make a difference to global health.

To lend structure to the discussion, there will be a Panel Debate on "International Health Security". As we will have an afternoon to discuss this subject, I will say no more on this particular topic.

Welcome to Singapore

It is my pleasant duty to welcome all of you to this event and to Singapore.  

A special welcome to Dr Margaret Chan who is also here as our United Nations Distinguished Visitor. Under our United Nations Distinguished Visitors Programme, we invite outstanding individuals linked to the UN System to visit Singapore and to share their experiences with us.

Dr Margaret Chan is an old friend of Singapore and knows all the nooks and corners here, having stayed here for quite some time in the past. She has many friends here and I hope this trip will also allow some time for her to renew her friendship with most of them.

We also welcome Dr Linda Milan from the WHO Western Pacific Regional Office. Dr Milan is here to inaugurate the Singapore Health Promotion Board as a WHO Collaborating Centre for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. With this addition, Singapore is honoured to host 9 WHO Collaborating Centres in total. 

Norwegian Foreign Minister, Mr Jonas Store, and Cathay-Pacific CEO, Mr Philip Chen, are also here with us to take part in the Debate as the Panelists. They have vast experience in cross-border issues and we all look forward to hearing their thoughts on the subject later.

I am also grateful for the presence of my counterparts, the Health Ministers from Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Solomon Islands and Vietnam. We meet one another at WHO and ASEAN forums but never enough. As health problems increase, I find value in hearing their advice and their experience. More importantly, as healthcare risks extend beyond national borders, I find our friendships valuable as we can easily pick up the telephone and touch base with one another when occasions demand such a direct communication. We did that often during the SARS crisis and found it to our mutual benefit. 

HPB as WHO Collaborating Centre

Finally, on behalf of the Singapore Health Promotion Board (HPB), I thank the WHO for honouring us by appointing it as a WHO Collaborating Centre. It recognises the good work on health promotion and disease prevention that the HPB staff have put in over the years.

All across the world, preventive health and health promotion are key policy priorities, given the rising incidence of chronic diseases and the shift towards more sedentary lifestyles. All countries now promote healthy living among its citizens. No WHO meetings are complete without health ministers being seen to be interspersing their meetings with mass aerobic exercises. I encourage the media to also highlight the meals served during WHO Meetings to show that Health Ministers do walk the talk.

Today's lunch for example is organised by the Singapore Health Promotion Board. I am sure they will not disappoint the WHO or the diners.  

In Singapore, we take the healthy lifestyle message directly into the schools. The Health Promotion Board grants the CHERISH award to schools with comprehensive health promotion programmes for their students and staff. Since its inception in 2001, the participation rate has more than tripled. Seven in ten schools (270) have received CHERISH awards. Three of these CHERISH award winners will perform for us during our lunch. I trust you will enjoy it.

As a WHO Collaborating Centre, the Singapore Health Promotion Board looks forward to sharing their expertise with their regional counterparts, just as we have benefited from WHO expertise and training ever since we became a member of the WHO in 1966.  

Once again, I welcome all of you to Singapore. I am sure you will enjoy the rest of today's programme.

Thank you.