WHA69 - Plenary and Committee B Statements

WHA69 - Statements Plenary and Committee B

  • 5/26/2016
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    ​During the 69th World Health Assembly, held in May in Geneva, Israeli representatives issued two statements,

    Minister Litzman highlighted the health priorities in Israel and in particular the necessity to offer the largest basket of health care to the population. He also suggested the developed countries to allocate a percentage of the space search budget to cancer researches.

    Omer Caspi, Deputy Permanent Representative, took the floor during the discussion of Agenda Item 19, the only country specific decision, which focuses on Israel and the health condition in the Palestinian territories. 
     
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  • Plenary Assembly (23 May 2016)

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    Delivered by Mr. Yacov Litzman, Minister of Health

    Mr. President,
    Director-General,

    I am honored to participate in the opening annual assembly of the World Health Organization.

    WHO is a professional organization, and I am very disappointed that the Palestinian representative has used this forum for a political attack against my country. The WHO is not a political organization; therefore I will speak on global, regional and Israeli health.

    The World Health Organization has chosen "Sustainable Development" as the leading issue of this year. Sustainable development involves action and policy created today for the benefit of the future. This approach is paramount for a better and healthier world. It is part of my conviction as a minister in Israel and as a citizen of the world.

    In order to achieve this vision, fighting poverty and inequality, are central issues to be addressed. As governments we have the obligation to minimize the gaps between our peripheries – socioeconomic or geographical. We are committed to the weaker parts of our population and we are fighting in all frontiers to meet these challenges. We see eye to eye with the UN and WHO and we support and implement sustainable development goals.

    By providing universal healthcare coverage to every resident in Israel, via one of the four nationwide health funds, we promise an equitable and comprehensive health basket to all. These services, secured by the national health insurance decree, offer high standard health care to everybody, regardless of religion, gender and origin. 

    Each year, we add new technologies to the basket of health services but we are also investing in primary prevention as well as in secondary prevention. Six years ago in my previous term, I led the process of including Dental Care to the basket of health services for children up to the age of 14.  In the following next years, the entitlement will rise to the age of eighteen. This has taken a private service and turned it into a public commitment.
    This year, mental health has become part of the services provided by the health funds. This promises the continuity of care in order to unite the mental and body wellness under one roof.

    In the near future we intend to lead a reform in the field of health care for the elderly, where every elderly will be entitled to services including nursing care as part of the rights under the national health insurance programs. Care for the elderly is a moral obligation that has to be a societal value.

    Food, healthy food, is a mainstay of our health. Recently I initiated a proactive program of food regulation enhancing food of high nutritional value for all parts of our population. Junk food is a public enemy. I oppose junk food, and the food industry opposes me, but I'm not afraid. The public is appreciative of my views and actions on health promotion and healthy nutrition.

    Israel has remarkably high health indicators, ranking 7th among the OECD countries with high life expectancy and low infant mortality rates. We have a high Bloomberg efficiency index, and the OECD has identified Israel as having - and I quote – “one of the most enviable health care systems among the OECD countries.”

    Israel is considered, Start-Up Nation and we lead the promotion enhancement and utilization of Digital health in our system. Over the past 5 years, the number of Digital Health startups in Israel has tripled. Technological innovations are a cardinal factor in promoting the quality and excellence of the system as well as an enabler of closing health gaps making services more accessible and sophisticated.

    I would like to raise the suggestion to the developed countries sitting here today to make a certain percentage of the space searches budget and allocate all these funds toward cancer research. 

    I think Israel has a good health system, and we will be very happy to cooperate on this proposal with all Nations interested in it and especially the WHO.

    Thank you very much.

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  • Committee B – Agenda Item 19 (25 May 2016)

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    Statement delivered by Mr. Omer Caspi, Deputy Permanent Representative

    Mr. Chairperson,
     
    This afternoon we shall yet again take part in the ritual of naming and shaming Israel. Cynicism has no limitations.

    I do not mean the cynicism of the sponsors of this Decision. Their cynicism comes from envy at the state-of -the-art medical system in Israel, where the population enjoys one of the world highest life expectancies. I mean the cynicism of all those who support this Decision and turn their eyes, ears and hearts away from real health emergencies and devote precious time and resources to politics.

    So, since you want politics, I will give you politics. Let me start with Syria. The UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria documents a series of attacks on hospitals and health care institutions and labels them War Crimes. The UN Secretary- General said that since the beginning of the war there were 360 attacks on medical facilities, killing more than 730 medical personnel. WHO Director-General expressed her outrage at the attack on Al-Quds Hospital in Aleppo, which killed one of the only remaining pediatricians in the city. 

    Let me say a word on Yemen. WHO reported in March that 600 health centers have closed and 50,000 children under the age of 5 died from preventable diseases in the past year. 19 million people in Yemen lack access to clean water and 14 million are in urgent need of health care. Need I go on?

    Meanwhile, the life expectancy of Palestinians continued on an upward trend. Under-five mortality rate was down. Infant mortality all together was down significantly. These are by far better result than the Arab States group average and comparable with the High Human Development group. Moreover, despite growing Palestinian terrorist attacks on Israelis, close to 100,000 Palestinians from the West Bank were treated in Israeli hospitals. Regarding the Golan Heights, all Golan inhabitants, including the Druze population, enjoy the same health care as all Israelis. Israeli hospitals have been treating close to 3,000 Syrian victims of the war. There are no restrictions whatsoever on access to the Golan Heights.

    Mr. Chairperson,

    WHO is a professional organization and should leave politics to the political institutions of the UN.  It should deal with health emergencies. These lie elsewhere. It is absurd that we should sit here year after year, listening to a political harangue against my country as well as to my rebuttal. This theatre of the absurd must come to an end.

    Israel calls for a roll-call vote on the Decision and I urge you to vote against it.

    Thank you.​