As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the 68th session of the WHO Regional Committee for the Eastern Mediterranean will be held virtually for a second year.
Health ministers and high-level representatives of the 22 countries of WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Region, along with partner organizations and civil society, will connect online to discuss priority public health issues from 11 to 14 October 2021.
WHO’s Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO’s Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari, and Minister of Health and Population of Egypt and Chair of the 67th session of the Regional Committee H.E. Dr Hala Zayed, will address the opening session.
“While we discuss critical public health issues, we need to remember that the highest attainable standard of health is the fundamental right of every human being. And in our effort to make our vision of health for all by all a reality on the ground, we should also remember that health can act as a bridge for peace, “
Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari said in a press conference held remotely.
In previous years, we have successfully advocated for health as a bridge to peace and negotiated ceasefires for vaccination campaigns and other life-saving activities. And as we move forward in our collective response to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and address ongoing emergencies facing our Region these efforts have now become even more critical, Al-Mandhari pointed out.
“I would like to refer to the work of the Commission on the Social Determinants of Health in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, established in 2019 as an independent, expert Commission, and its report “Build back fairer: achieving health equity in the Eastern Mediterranean Region”. The report provides detailed analysis of the status of health inequities and a list of actionable recommendations, putting social justice and health equity at the centre of all action to address the social determinants of health,” said Dr Al-Mandhari.
The pandemic, he said, has exposed gaps in investment in health emergency preparedness leaving the world’s health systems largely unprepared for the outbreak of a pathogen with pandemic potential.
These gaps, if left unaddressed, ill-equip us to deal with the threat of future epidemics and pandemics. A plan of action for ending the COVID-19 pandemic and preventing and controlling future health emergencies in the Region will be presented to the Regional Committee for its consideration and potential endorsement, he pointed out.
The COVID-19 pandemic has also underlined the need for effective public health surveillance. Detecting potential public health threats early and monitoring disease morbidity and mortality is critical for guiding effective disease prevention and control measures, and in many countries, surveillance systems are fragmented across disease-specific programmes, weakening their ability to detect potential threats, he said.
WHO is proposing an integrated approach to disease surveillance for the Region that will use a single electronic platform to improve both the efficiency of health information systems and their effectiveness in the use of data to guide decisions, detect epidemics early and ensure more effective priority-setting, planning, resource allocation, monitoring and evaluation, potentially avoiding large-scale economic disruption from future epidemics and pandemics, according to Dr Al-Mandhari .
Source: Jordan News Agency