Remarks by Tapan Mishra, UN Resident Coordinator in Mongolia on the World Health Day

Good health is essential to sustainable development. Ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being is important to building prosperous societies, ending poverty and reducing inequalities.

Mongolia has made progress in achieving SDG 3 – good health and well being of its people in the past decades.

Deaths among infants and children have been declined. Life expectancy has steadily increased. Endemic transmission of measles and tetanus were eliminated. Mongolia has become a polio-free country.

However, the current pandemic disrupts essential health services and threatens to undo the gains in the healthcare sector in Mongolia.

Mongolian healthcare staff are fighting day and night to minimize the negative impacts of the outbreak and save lives of those who are at high risk.

In anticipation of more health emergencies like COVID-19 in the future, world leaders came together with World Health Organization last week to call for a new international treaty to ensure we are better prepared for the next pandemic.

Today, on the occasion of World Health Day, we are joining the call for building a fairer and healthier world. Therefore, we, as the UN systems in Mongolia, must work together with the Government of Mongolia to ensure that everyone has living and working conditions that are conducive to good health.

Our joint efforts must ensure that all Mongolians enjoy good health and wellbeing by systemically addressing health inequities and offering equitable and affordable health services.

Together, we can!