Excellencies; Hon’ble Ministers; Director-General; Distinguished Delegates; Partners, Colleagues and Friends,
Bondia hotu (bon-DEE-ah HO-too), good morning and a very warm welcome to this introduction to the Annual Report – a record of progress, partnership and shared purpose across the WHO South-East Asia Region.
My sincere gratitude once again to the Government of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste for so graciously hosting us, and my congratulations on the country’s historic achievement of eliminating trachoma as a public health problem.
Obrigada (oh-bree-GAH-dah) and Parabéns ba (pah-ruh-BENS bah), Timor-Leste – may you continue to inspire us all.
Today, it is a privilege to present this report, which in many ways, is unlike any before it.
Not only does it reflect on what we have achieved, but it also defines our response to one of the most consequential periods in the history of global health:
A moment when predictable financing collapsed; when the belief in inevitable progress was shattered; and when the post-war consensus that health is a shared global responsibility came under unprecedented strain.
A moment when certainty dissolved. When resilience became essential.
The report tells three interconnected stories.
First, how countries protected and even achieved hard-won gains amid acute financial and operational constraints;
Second, how WHO and Member States sharpened regional priorities and planning, anchored in the vision of WHO’s Fourteenth General Programme of Work;
And third, how the Region’s new “Banyan Framework” will help steer the Region through uncertainty, deepening our roots and enabling us to flourish in the years ahead.
Running through each of these stories is a single idea: turning constraint into catalyst, disruption into direction.
And behind each of these stories are the people who made them possible – our WHO staff, working hand in hand with Member States and partners. To them, I extend my deepest gratitude.
But Excellencies, let us acknowledge: Ultimately, these stories are yours.
WHO is your Organization.
Your priorities shape our work.
Your leadership guides our efforts.
It is your commitment that makes progress possible.
And it is your achievements that are at the heart of this report.
In 2025, Bangladesh united 35 ministries to tackle noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), which cause 70% of all deaths in the country, most of them premature.
Among eligible girls, coverage of the human papillomavirus vaccine (HPV) reached 89%, protecting millions from cervical cancer.
Bhutan sustained zero indigenous malaria cases for a third consecutive year and developed a fully costed national digital health strategy – a strategy designed to make health services more connected, efficient and responsive to people's needs.
DPR Korea developed a roadmap for a PRET-based approach to respiratory threats, helping ensure faster, more coordinated responses to future outbreaks and pandemics.
India achieved a 43% reduction in zero-dose children. It expanded digital health and real-time surveillance to more than 240 000 health facilities countrywide, covering over 40 diseases.
The result? Faster detection of health threats and quicker action to protect communities.
In a global first, Maldives was validated for the triple elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B.
In a separate world first, it introduced a generational tobacco ban, demonstrating the political courage to turn ambition into action.
My deepest respect and congratulations.
In Myanmar, a devastating earthquake compounded an already dire humanitarian crisis. Working around the clock, the WHO-led Health Cluster delivered life-saving health services to more than 2.2 million people.
Nepal became the sixth country in the Region to eliminate rubella. It also sustained visceral leishmaniasis elimination thresholds for the second consecutive year, protecting communities from two once-endemic diseases.
Sri Lanka completed the world’s first UN-assisted assessment of corruption risks within a national regulatory authority. It continued to implement key PHC reforms, establishing the first Arogya health and wellness centres, with 250 expected nationwide by the end of this year.
Demonstrating what it truly means to leave no one behind, Thailand linked more than 732 000 stateless people to public health coverage.
It significantly improved injury surveillance, with data-quality performance increasing by more than 10% in just two years.
Timor-Leste achieved malaria free status. In addition, it implemented its school-based Primary Health Care Package nationwide, bringing essential health services directly to children, and promoting life-long health and well-being.
It continued to expand the Saúde na Família programme, moving the country closer to universal health coverage – the Region’s defining health goal, and the foundation for achieving Sustainable Development Goal 3.
Excellencies,
This report is not simply an account of achievements. It is evidence that, even during one of the most difficult periods in the history of global health, you – our Member States – continued to choose cooperation over fragmentation, solidarity over isolation, and long-term investment over short-term uncertainty.
While each Member State sets its own priorities, together you defined a shared regional agenda that delivered shared regional achievements. An agenda based on the three simple ambitions of WHO’s Fourteenth General Programme of Work: to promote health, provide health and protect health.
I begin with promoting health.
In 2025, the Healthy Cities Network expanded to 27 cities, bringing healthier urban environments to 28 million people.
Tobacco use fell by 40% between 2010 and 2025, well beyond the global target.
Exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months of life reached almost 57%, giving more children the healthiest possible start in life.
Three Member States adopted new national physical activity guidelines, helping to create healthier, more active communities.
Nine Member States strengthened rights-based mental health policies and expanded mental health services through primary health care, bringing care closer to the people who need it.
Recognizing climate change as one of the greatest threats to health, eight Member States developed national health adaptation plans, strengthening their capacity to anticipate and respond to climate-related health risks.
Next, providing health.
Through the SEA-HEARTS initiative, 94 million people with hypertension or diabetes received protocol-based care, with 12 million achieving disease control.
The Region achieved its highest-ever childhood immunization coverage. HPV vaccine coverage nearly tripled, while the number of zero-dose children fell by 27% in a single year.
The Regional Childhood Cancer Network trained more than 190 paediatric oncology nurses and supported more than 7000 children, ensuring more children in the Region have a fairer chance of cancer survival.
Nine Member States integrated traditional, complementary and integrative medicine into their Essential Health Service Packages, expanding access to safe, evidence-based and affordable care for more than 1.5 billion people.
Across the Region, countries strengthened maternal and newborn care, improved access to essential medicines and diagnostics, accelerated digital health transformation, and invested in a skilled and compassionate health workforce.
Finally, protecting health, which begins long before crisis strikes.
Through joint external evaluations and simulations, national action plans for health security were advanced, turning identified gaps into funded action.
A new Regional Health Emergency Workforce Strategy strengthened surge capacity, enabling faster, more coordinated emergency health responses.
Public health intelligence screened over 1.1 million media reports, investigated 219 signals and substantiated 59 acute events, with eight rapid risk assessments conducted.
Laboratory and genomic surveillance systems were reinforced through expanded quality assurance and leadership programmes, improving the early detection of emerging pathogens.
And crucially, the corpus of the South-East Asia Regional Health Emergency Fund increased from US$ 1 million to US$ 3 million, enabling more effective preparedness, more timely financing, and more rapid emergency response.
This is the quiet work of protecting health – not always visible, but always essential, with an eye on the horizon.
And let us acknowledge: that horizon was shifting long before recent disruptions to the global health and multilateral order.
Shrinking fiscal space – driven by debt, interest burdens, limited domestic revenue, and growing geopolitical and economic uncertainty.
Persistent health workforce shortages – fuelled by ageing populations, workforce migration, burnout and attrition.
Climate shocks, disease outbreaks and humanitarian crises – placing ever greater demands on health systems already under strain.
A shifting disease burden – with NCDs and mental health conditions rising, even as countries continue the unfinished work of tackling tuberculosis, dengue and neglected tropical diseases.
Which brings us to the defining question: What do these converging pressures – both local and global – mean for the future of health action in the Region?
First, health action demands greater focus. As resources tighten and demands grow, WHO, countries and partners must concentrate effort where the potential for health impact is greatest.
Second, progress depends on delivering results in more integrated ways. Health challenges are increasingly interconnected, and fragmented approaches are less effective in addressing them.
Third, achieving scale requires working differently. WHO, countries and partners must mobilize collective strengths, share capabilities and accelerate progress together.
In other words, progress will depend not on doing more, but on doing things differently, demonstrating the enduring value of the Region's enduring commitment to multilateralism and collective action amid a crisis of confidence in global health cooperation.
That is why, with you, we developed the Banyan Framework for Health and Well-being, launched on World Health Day, and grounded in last year’s country prioritization exercise – what you told us mattered most for the health and well-being of your people.
Inspired by the banyan tree – a Region-wide symbol of community, protection and resilience – the Framework unites countries and partners behind a shared agenda, accelerating action where the burden of disease, and the opportunity for impact, are greatest.
It focuses on four priorities: strengthening primary health care and universal health coverage; accelerating progress against communicable diseases; strengthening health security; and reducing the burden of NCDs, mental health conditions and injuries.
But priorities alone are not enough. The Framework also changes how we work – through stronger partnerships, more integrated health systems, focused support where needs are greatest, and expanded access to medicines, digital technologies and artificial intelligence.
Crucially, from root to branch, the Framework prioritizes the timely use of data to drive continuous learning, enables earlier action and guide resources to where they are needed most.
Less than six months after the Framework was launched, its vision is already taking shape.
Shape, in a new digital and AI ecosystem platform, bringing together interoperable health information systems, AI-enabled decision support, workforce intelligence and regional digital goods.
The aim? To strengthen health system performance and support better, faster decisions.
Form, in a new regional talent pool and community of experts, backed by a country-responsive demand-matching mechanism.
Why? So countries can access the right expertise, in the right place, and at the right time.
Substance, in a new generation of regional health intelligence and health security platforms.
The objective? Stronger surveillance, preparedness, early warning, emergency coordination, rapid response and cross-border collaboration.
And expression, in flagship initiative: SEA-ACCESS
This initiative will strengthen equitable access to essential health products.
Excellencies, partners and friends,
As the horizon clears and the future takes shape, let us be hopeful that the worst is behind us; that the lessons of this moment endure; and that international cooperation for health grows ever stronger.
Because if the last few years have taught us anything, it is that building a healthier, safer and more resilient future is everyone’s business, the responsibility of all, which WHO will continue to support.
But hope is not a strategy.
It must be matched by leadership.
By investment.
By action.
And by ambition.
By renewed international cooperation.
By deepened solidarity.
By fully implementing our Banyan Framework for the health and well-being of every person, of every age, everywhere in our Region.
By redoubling our efforts to achieve the health-related SDGs in the final four years of the Agenda.
By turning constraint into catalyst.
By turning disruption into direction.
Because a healthier, safer, more resilient Region and world cannot – must not – wait.
Tomorrow must begin today.
Obrigadu barak (oh-bree-GAH-doo BAH-rahk). My sincere thanks and gratitude to you all.