Speeches and Remarks 2006

Opening Remarks by Ambassador David C. Mulford, 16^th Asia Pacific Military Medical Conference Taj Palace Hotel, New Delhi March 27, 2006

As prepared for delivery

Honorable Defense Minister Mukherjee, Air Chief Marshall Tyagi, Vice Admiral Singh and Major General Pollock, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am pleased to participate in the inaugural ceremony of the 16th Annual Asia Pacific Military Medicine Conference (APMMC).
 
I am especially pleased that this event is taking place in India this year.   The U.S.-India relationship has transformed over the past several years to reflect our shared vales and interests, a changing international environment, and a growing role for India in the region and the world.  The United States welcomes these changes and India's growing role in the international community.
 
Since the 9-11 terrorist attacks on the United States, the military-to-military relationship between the US and India has grown substantially.  The U.S. Pacific Command and its service components work throughout the region to develop multilateral opportunities for friends and allies to share diverse perspectives and build strong, lasting relationships.  Through these interactions we increase our mutual understanding and foster an environment that encourages cooperation.  The majority of these events are understandably focused on operational and regional security cooperation matters.  In today's complex world such topics are clearly relevant.   Military medicine is an equally important component of these interactions as we pursue the goals of safety, security, and relief of suffering.

As military health professionals you serve on the front lines of medicine and the achievement of these goals is your primary duty.  You share the common goal of protecting the health and strength of your military forces.  The invaluable work you do in combat casualty care, nursing, aerospace medicine, preventive medicine, and infectious disease not only benefits your military forces, but also the world at large.
 
What you do here at this conference and throughout the year directly contributes to what we all desire: longer, healthier and happier lives.  In the interest of this basic human need, I encourage you to have a lively exchange of best practices and continue to build on personal and professional relationships so that we can all benefit.

In recent years, your efforts and enhanced regional collaboration have increased the sharing of information on disease surveillance, preventive measures, coordination with civil and international organizations in preparedness and response activities to mitigate the impact of disasters and disease outbreaks.  In addition to continuing this effort, I encourage you to develop strategies to ensure that policy makers and international leaders fully appreciate the new and emerging disease threats and their potential negative socioeconomic and political impact. 

Human health and quality of life is a fundamental component of human security.  Providing this basic need is becoming an increasingly costly endeavor.  The societal cost of infectious disease is staggering.  The financial burden of combating current threats limits prosperity and, in extreme cases, could weaken the very foundations upon which stable democratic political systems rest.
 
It is against this backdrop that the world fights the HIV/AIDs battle and is positioned to prepare the fight against a potential pandemic outbreak of avian flu.  Nearly 100 years ago, before widespread international air travel and interlinkages of the global economy, some 40 million people died during the influenza pandemic of 1918 over the brief period of 10 months.  If history is our guide, it is imperative that we join together and cooperate to defend our citizens.  Given the potential consequences of a global avian influenza outbreak, your interactions here this week take on perhaps an even greater significance.  Collective action is the need of the hour and this is an excellent forum to foster emergency cooperation.  This means expanding on the all-important interpersonal and organizational relationships, which you have already established in previous meetings.  We depend in the first instance on you to help your respective governments and the international community to protect them.
 
In conclusion, I encourage you to strengthen and extend collaboration to protect the lives of men and women in uniform.  In doing so, you improve the quality of life and overall security of all those living in the Asia Pacific and Indian Ocean Region.

Thank you.