Opening speech - International Health Forum to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the National Health Programme of Turkmenistan

Your Excellency Mr President, honourable ministers, distinguished delegates and representatives, fellow colleagues in public health, ladies and gentlemen

It is an honour and a great pleasure for me to be in Ashgabat on this unique occasion, which marks the 20th anniversary of implementation of the Turkmen National Health Programme. It is also the start of a new era, with the launch of the next 10-year programme: adapting the priorities of work to the new challenges. This takes place in a special year, when the world will adopt the post-2015 development agenda, with health in a central place, both as a beneficiary of and a contributor to development.

It is also a great honour that our collaboration with the Government of Turkmenistan is recognized with such a prestigious award! Successful collaboration is possible only when both sides are fully committed and dedicated, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank His Excellency, the President of Turkmenistan, in particular for all his support and leadership in health issues, which have resulted in significant health gains, despite all the challenges the world is facing.

There have been so many highlights over the past two decades that it is hard to choose a few examples. Turkmenistan has seen remarkable improvements in life expectancy, a substantial decrease in mortality from infectious and respiratory diseases and significant reductions in maternal mortality and mortality of children under 15. Polio, malaria and dracunculiasis—diseases that used to maim and kill—are now a thing of the past. The drive for health has taken many forms, such as universal salt iodization to ensure good brain development in unborn infants and young children, which was introduced in Turkmenistan in 2004. A national drug formulary was introduced in order to frame national drug policies. Health promotion has been integrated into primary health care to help the Turkmen people embrace healthy living. These gains were made possible only by adopting the right policies with the right strategic approaches.

On behalf of the European Member States, I would like to thank you, Mr President, for hosting the European Ministerial Conference on NCDs in Ashgabat in December 2013. It was a great event and a great opportunity for European countries to visit your wonderful country and at the same time to adopt the Ashgabat Declaration on NCD Prevention and Control, which was subsequently endorsed by the WHO European Regional Committee and has become an integral part of our work on NCDs in Europe.

The National Strategy for Implementation of the Ashgabat Declaration on NCDs, developed closely with the Regional Office for Europe, was adopted in May 2014 by Presidential decree, and it is being implemented—another important development. We are delighted to see that a national intersectoral high-level committee, consisting of representatives of 38 ministries and headed by the Prime Minister, was established in 2014 to prepare a national plan of action on NCDs. This has contributed to promoting inclusive participation by all sectors in order to address the key determinants of health. We are ready to continue our participation in meetings of this committee and to fully use the tools we have developed to support such intersectoral work.

Turkmenistan has adopted national targets and indicators that are aligned with both the Global NCD Monitoring Framework and the Health 2020 policy. The country has made good progress in 2014–2015 in providing good-quality, internationally comparable data and metadata for the Health-for-All database.

In addition, Turkmenistan is including health (and NCDs in particular) as an important component of sustainable development within the United Nations–Turkmen Government Partnership Framework.

NCDs will remain a priority for collaboration between WHO and Turkmenistan, and we will continue to support Turkmenistan in developing a Turkmen model for the prevention and control of NCDs.

Another area in which Turkmenistan is a good example and a model is tobacco control. Your country has signed and ratified the FCTC, as mentioned by the Director-General, and is implementing it. With your success in reducing tobacco prevalence to the lowest level in Europe, Turkmenistan can lead the way for the world in tobacco control. I am looking forward to the launch of the European Regional Tobacco Control project later on in the conference.

All this demonstrates that the Turkmenistan model shows that investment in health pays off.

Building on these achievements, the work should continue within the framework of the new 10-year national health programme to address the most recent challenges that the world and Turkmenistan are facing.

The WHO Regional Office for Europe was pleased and honoured to be part of the evaluation of the past 20 years and to be your partner in further development of the policy environment for the next 10 years, which is aligned with Health 2020. This shows how close the collaboration has become between the Regional Office and Turkmenistan: working together at all levels, be it on health policy, health system strengthening or a wide range of technical issues.

Finally, let me congratulate you, Mr President, on this important occasion for hosting the Health Forum, which will help define further steps towards improving the health and well-being of the Turkmen population. I am looking forward to discussing these steps in depth during the conference. It is always a pleasure and honour for me to be in Turkmenistan. I visit your country almost every year and note the progress that is being made.

I join Margaret in wishing all of us a successful, productive meeting.