WITH the growing frequency of global health threats including the Covid-19 epidemic, the world must come together as a family and engage in more effective health diplomacy, said Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

Ismail said this in his inaugural speech at the General Debate of the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York today, via a pre-recorded video. The text of his speech was made available to the media by Wisma Putra.

“Our common mission in these unprecedented times calls us to recognise that humankind is one big extended family. We must ensure greater collaboration not just to end this epidemic but on an array of other health-related issues.

“It is in that spirit that we in Malaysia have very consciously referred to ourselves as ‘Keluarga Malaysia’,” he said.

Ismail said Malaysia is fully committed to managing, overcoming and recovering from the deadly epidemic.

“We will ensure that Malaysia will not only bounce back but will thrive as the world emerges from the depths of the epidemic,” he said.

He pointed out despite the unified commitment, the sad reality today is that the world is far from winning the war against Covid-19. This despite the aggressive rollout of vaccines and with the sharing and adoption of best practices.

While most vaccine-producing nations as well as those that have the financial means have achieved some measure of success, the majority of the world’s population, mainly the middle income and those from least developed countries, remain unvaccinated.

However, the focus should not just be on vaccines as there were other aspects that required attention as well, he said.

Ismail said public health should be regarded as a global public good rather than the exclusive domain of individual nations.

Hence, Malaysia will play a more prominent role and participate more actively in health diplomacy with inter-disciplinary approach involving more relevant stakeholders. – Bernama, September 25, 2021.