Your Royal Highness Princess Muna Al-Hussein, Your Excellency Keva Bain, President of the World Health Assembly,
First of all, I would like to recognize Her Royal Highness Princess Muna for her tireless support over almost six decades for nurses and midwives. In this International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife, we have become even more acutely aware of the incredible contribution that nurses and midwives make, from the first moments of life to the last. Your Royal Highness, thank you for your dedication and service to health and humanity. It is with great pleasure that I bestow on you the Director-General’s award.
I would also like to thank our sisters and brothers from Tonga for their wonderful performance. I have such fond memories of my trip to Tonga and other Pacific nations last year, and I want to assure you of my strong commitment to small island developing states and the challenges you face. I’m sorry we weren’t able to have you in person here in Geneva – but even from the other side of the world, you have lifted our spirits and touched our hearts, like you did when I was there last year. So it’s with great pleasure that I also bestow on you the Tongan Nurses Choir, the Director-General’s award.
