Your Excellency Ambassador Ghislain D'Hoop,
Your Excellency Ambassador Umej Bhatia,
Your Excellency Ambassador Paul Empole Efambe,
Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng, Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health,
Ghada Waly, Executive Director of UNODC,
Jagjit Pavadia, President of the INCB,
Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,
I thank Ambassador D'Hoop and the Ambassadors of Belgium and Singapore for organising this critical meeting.
We particularly thank Belgium and Singapore for their support for WHO's work improving access to medicines, vaccines and other health products.
And I thank the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and The International Narcotics Control Board for your continued partnership.
Every year, the non-medical use of psychoactive drugs leads to half a million deaths around the world.
At the same time, controlled medicines are critical for the management of pain, opioid dependence and other substance use disorders, neurological disorders, and mental health conditions.
And they are essential during emergencies, such as for treating severely ill COVID-19 patients in intensive care units.
And yet, most of the world's people still lack consistent access to safe and effective controlled medicines needed to relieve pain and suffering, and in some cases to save lives.
The COVID-19 pandemic has only made things worse.
Spikes in demand, trade restrictions and other supply chain break-downs have put many medicines at risk of shortage.
Access to morphine, an essential medicine for the management of pain and palliative care, is still almost non-existent in many low- and middle-income countries.
Similarly, three-quarters of people living with epilepsy in low-income countries cannot get the medicines needed to prevent seizures.
The lack of access is due to a combination of factors: insufficient purchasing power, unnecessarily stringent regulations, vulnerable supply chains, limited production, misperceptions about the medical use of controlled medicines, and as Ghada said, corruption.
Countries with weak regulatory authorities find it particularly difficult to keep a balance between ensuring access for medical use, while preventing misuse and diversion.
In response, WHO is now developing guidelines to support countries to implement policies to strike that balance.
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This is in addition to our other work to support countries to manage access to, and the effective and safe use of, controlled medicines.
This includes regular updates of the Model List of Essential Medicines, and guidelines on the management of chronic pain in children.
WHO is also supporting countries to strengthen local manufacturing, regulatory and supply chain capacity, to scale up the production of quality-assured medicines.
I will leave you with three priorities:
First, I urge you to make public health and human rights the primary focus of the international drug policy dialogue. This is very important.
Second, I urge all of us to follow through on the commitments we made in Vienna at the 65th session of CND, for improving international cooperation.
And third, I urge all countries to continue to share national experiences and best practices as we walk this difficult path together.
Thank you all for your continued commitment to navigating that path, and to building a healthier, safer, fairer world for all people who need access to controlled medicines - and need it now.
Thank you, and I wish us a fruitful discussion.
