Good afternoon and welcome, Excellencies and colleagues to the Philippine Mission.

It is a pleasure to host our Group of Friends for the first time this year, to discuss our plans for 2024.  A special welcome to our Co-Chair, Ambassador Zsuzsanna Horváth, Permanent Representative of Hungary to the United Nations and my fellow-PRs whose guidance we seek and wish to hear during this meeting, along with other colleagues present today.

Thank you as well to the World Health Organization, for always providing important support to our Group.

This meeting is timely since just last Friday, we celebrated World Water Day under the theme “Leveraging water for peace.” During the commemoration, it was noted that the United Nations World Water Development Report 2024 calls for increased international cooperation on water-related issues to promote peace and sustainable development. 

In our discussions, let us recall that on 18 December last year, the General Assembly adopted by consensus a landmark resolution on sustainable, safe and universal water, sanitation, hygiene, waste and electricity services in health-care facilities. This resolution was shepherded by the Philippines, Hungary and some of our GoF members.

With the resolution, we were able to agree on main action areas to improve the lives of billions of people without adequate WASH services. These include integration of WASH, waste and electricity services into health planning, programming, financing and monitoring at all levels; regular monitoring and reviewing of progress, and strengthening accountability; and development and empowerment of the health workforce to deliver and maintain WASH, waste and electricity services, and practice good hygiene.

The resolution also recognized that without sufficient and safe water, sanitation, hygiene, waste and electricity services in health-care facilities, countries cannot achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Goals. Hence, the consideration of the agenda before the General Assembly was imperative in viewing WASH in healthcare facilities beyond the health sector, and as a cross-cutting issue impacting the fulfillment of various SDGs.

We however never deemed the resolution to be an end in itself. It is the beginning of very important work ahead - the implementation.  To meet the target of universal access to WASH in health care facilities by 2030, we must continue raising the profile and awareness of safe water, sanitation and hygiene, and infection prevention and control in healthcare facilities within the various UN deliberations and contexts, including the Summit of the Future and High-Level Meeting on AMR, among others.

To this end, the Philippines reaffirms its commitment to advancing the objectives and commitments of this GoF, the 2030 Agenda, and the 2018 Call of Action of the Secretary-General. Notably, our recent announcement regarding the expansion of the nation's healthcare facilities through the Health Facilities Enhancement Program underscores this commitment.

We hope that with concerted efforts and collective action of our Group of Friends, and with the steadfast support of the World Health Organization, we will make 2024 another successful year for WASH in healthcare facilities.

I now wish to give the floor to our co-Chair, the distinguished Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Hungary.

Thank you. END