KUALA LUMPUR: As the new incoming member of the World Health Organisation's (WHO) Executive Board, Malaysia has taken the opportunity to raise some less mentioned concerns in the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin highlighted one of the concerns during the closing session of the 74th World Health Assembly held virtually tonight was on how the pandemic had impacted mental health and social well-being.
"There is nothing natural about self-isolation and the toll it takes on our global citizens, young and old, the disruptions to education, work and social norms and will require us to endure a healing process that will take time.
"The findings from the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response has given us clear analysis and recommendations so that together, we can make this the last pandemic.
"While we must commit to taking action and ensuring multilateral cooperation and commitment to achieve this goal, let us also not forget that the rise in zoonosis and pandemic risks has a direct correlation with transgressions of our planetary boundaries, and our future development must consider the protection and health of our planet," he said.
Muhyiddin said Malaysia looked forward to working closely with the WHO and other countries via strategic partnerships, as guided by the General Programme of Work 13 to achieve Universal Health Coverage, address health emergencies and promote healthier populations, in line with the 2030 Agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals.
"The end to the Covid-19 pandemic may still be some time away, we in Malaysia hope that the global situation will continue to improve.
"Imagine the benefit to all of humanity if only more vaccines were immediately made available to people in need across the globe. We welcome the call for a people's vaccine, and the Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights or TRIPs waiver, to allow vaccine manufacturing in the developing world.
"This is a fight we cannot afford to lose. You can certainly count on Malaysia being a strong partner to WHO to create a healthier, happier and more equitable world for all," he said.
The prime minister also said Malaysia's commitment to Universal Health Care even extended to its non-citizens.
"The Government of Malaysia continues to provide free health screening and treatment for COVID 19 infections, and will offer free vaccination to everyone in our country, whatever their citizenship or immigration status."
Muhyiddin reiterated the call for universal access to Covid-19 vaccines, which must be affordable and accessible to all.
"We joined the COVAX Facility to facilitate the equitable distribution of Covid-19 vaccines globally and commend the WHO for spearheading this effort.
"Malaysia has started receiving the delivery of the vaccines procured through COVAX. But unlike countries from the West, we have had to wait for our supplies, initially trickling in, which brings me to this – we can only be safe when everyone is safe.
"Vaccine equity is still a major issue and we cannot win this war against the virus unless everyone has equal and rapid access to vaccines," he said.
The country's Covid-19 National Immunisation Programme (NIP), he said, relied heavily on the supply and delivery of vaccine doses from the manufacturers.
"Since late February, we have successfully inoculated just over 5 per cent of our population. This is nowhere as fast as we had hoped, Malaysia requires 53 million doses of vaccines to meet the needs of 70 per cent of its population to achieve herd immunity by the end of the year.
"To date, we have only received just under 3.2 million doses or 6 per cent of our required doses. With the expected arrivals of more vaccines in the next couple of months, we hope to increase our daily vaccination rate from 100,000 to between 200,000 to 300,000 per day," he said adding that Malaysia was in the midst of scaling up vaccinations through public and private health partnerships.
He said the country also adopted good practices observed from other countries such as the citizen engagement and outreach programmes like Bhutan; the drive-through vaccinations in the US stated of Arizona to the use of mega vaccination sites from now under-utilised convention centres and stadiums as being done by Thailand.
"The Malaysian Government swiftly increased budget allocations and to date, we have spent RM 69.3 billion (roughly USD 16.7 billion) to boost healthcare capacity, which constitutes 4.89 per cent of the GDP.
"It is the largest and most acute rise in spending for public healthcare in Malaysian history, including investments in the wider use of technology – from contact tracing and digital vaccination certificates on handheld mobile devices, blockchain for vaccination management systems to the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning to identify hotspot for outbreaks of disease.
Muhyiddin also lauded WHO for designating 2021 as the International Year of Health and Care Workers, expressing appreciation for the sacrifices and courage of the frontliners against Covid-19.
"We owe the healthcare front liners of the world a debt of gratitude, including in Malaysia. You have saved countless lives and the futures of generations," he said.