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Tuesday, 13 September 2016 00:03 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Fathima Riznaz Hafi
The 69th World Health Organisation South-East Asia Regional Committee meeting ended on Friday (9), after a five-day period of intensive discussions between health experts and delegates from member countries resulting in vital decisions and resolutions being made.
Several crucial health issues were discussed with the main focus being on Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) which has both a global and local impact, causing 70% of deaths in Sri Lanka.
“We have controlled communicable diseases very efficiently but now our main challenge is NCD. Therefore that was the main item we discussed with all the delegates in the region,” said Ministry of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne. “This was a very successful session with 10 ministers and one director general taking part in discussions and we will complete the meeting this evening,” he said.
The Minister was speaking at a press conference where the outcome of the 5-9 September sessions was shared. Also at the press conference were Regional Director for South-East Asia Dr. Poonam Khetrapal Singh and Ministry of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine Director General Dr. Palitha Mahipala.
One of the landmark decisions that were taken in this regional committee was the ‘Colombo Declaration’, which refers to strengthening assistance to accelerate delivery of NCD services at the primary healthcare level.
“NCD is an area which is very close to the heart of this South East Asia region. Mortality from NCDs today is much higher than from communicable diseases. Sri Lanka has been doing extremely well for communicable diseases where there have been landmark successes with the elimination of malaria – which is huge – and the elimination of lymphatic filariasis – and the credit goes to the Health Minister of Sri Lanka who has very ably led his team to see this elimination,” said Dr. Poonam Khetrapal Singh.
“Sri Lanka has also done extremely well on reduction of maternal and child fatality. This is something the world looks up to Sri Lanka for. I made a recent visit to a maternity hospital yesterday just to see what those successes that Sri Lanka has been able to achieve which I can share with the rest of the world. Sri Lanka has also eliminated maternal and neo-natal tetanus; that is something which other countries in the region also have been able to eliminate,” she said.
WHO Director General Dr. Margaret Chan (left) and WHO South-East Asia Regional Director Dr. Poonam Khetrapal Singh (third from left) at the media briefing yesterday
In this Regional Committee besides the Colombo Declaration on NCDs there was a lot of discussion on SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals). After the Millennium Development Goals came to an end in 2015 leaders around the world adopted SDGs and these are going to be there for 15 years; they take us from 2015 to 2030.
“Our second ministerial round table was on Sustainable Development Goals. What the member states of our region have really asked for is to see the work and how its deliverables and outcomes can be related to the goals and targets of the SDGs. We the health department are concerned with SDG 3 which relates to health and has 13 targets and 26 indicators. That is very valuable guidance that the member states of our region have given to us,” she said.
In addition to that there have been some other resolutions that have been adopted and some decisions have been taken. Among these the program budget of WHO was reviewed to see the progress made in this biennial (WHO has a biennial budget as against many member states in the region which work on an annual budget).
“In this Regional Committee we looked at the progress of the present budget in 2016-17 and looked at what we have done in the last budget which is 2014-15 and we also looked at our forthcoming budget 2018-19. WHO believes in a lot of fore-planning; after the Regional Committee we go to the WHO in Geneva and then to the World Health Assembly in Geneva; and that is another resolution that we have adopted,” she said.
The Regional Committee has also adopted a resolution on ending preventable maternal and child mortality where Sri Lanka has shown remarkable success and other countries in our region are also looking towards Sri Lanka to see what they can learn from Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka had been able to reduce neo-natal mortality to six which is something many countries of our region are striving hard to achieve. That is an important lesson that other countries from our region are adopting.
Moving on to efforts to promote physical activity where again there has been a resolution, she said Sri Lanka has been an exemplary example and the contribution of the Minister of Health to this Regional Committee has been outstanding. As part of his efforts to encourage physical activity a morning session on physical activity was arranged on 6 September led by the President as well as the Minister of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine with other ministers of the region following. There has also been a resolution that has been adopted in this regard, she noted.
This Regional Committee has been a first in many ways. It is in this regional committee that we have had many public health achievements of this region honoured. We’ve been able to share them and honour our ministers of health for these public health issues. The Minister of Health of Sri Lanka was honoured for his achievement in malaria, lymphatic filariasis and maternal and neo-natal health.
The President of Sri Lanka was also honoured with the public health award for excellence. It is an award which is given every year to any individual, organisation or institution which has made remarkable achievements in that arena of public health. The President of Sri Lanka, who was the Health Minister for five years and was supported a lot by the present Health Minister in the achievements that he has made, was duly lauded.
Both the President and Health Minister being recipients of this award, is rare, she said, adding that it shows us the commitment of the Government towards healthcare.
Commending Dr. Senaratne’s efforts, she said that this Regional Committee has been an exemplary one because of the personal efforts of the minister who has played a remarkable role in taking this Regional Committee forward. “He was the chair at this committee and has been able to bring various countries in our region together on very important issues so that decisions and resolutions could be taken in this committee,” she said.
The sessions ended on an assuring note, with hope for change, lessons to be brought back to member-states, examples to be followed from states that have achieved success in healthcare, and resolutions that would greatly benefit the health arena of the region.
Maldives would be the next member country to host the Regional Committee meeting while the year after, the 71st meeting will be hosted by Delhi.
