UN General Assembly
2019

Our health is vital. We face communicable diseases such as the ongoing nationwide dengue fever outbreak, which is worsened by climate impacts. We also face non-communicable diseases, including one of the world’s highest incidence rates of diabetes. We welcome the partnership with the World Health Organization and other organizations and call urgently for greater efforts to collaborate on island-tailored strategies. We have the political will at the highest levels, but we lack the capacity and resources needed to protect our population. In that regard, we welcome the ongoing collaboration with UNICEF and the World Bank to help us study, understand and address childhood stunting and the root causes of that problem, which has hindered the physical growth, education and well-being of generations of Marshallese children. Improving childhood development in the first 1,000 days of life will have a dramatic and lasting impact on our future generations.