Minister of Health, Abdulla Nazim Ibrahim departed to Switzerland on Sunday to attend the 156th session of the World Health Organization (WHO) Executive Board.
Minister Nazim will represent the Maldives at the session as a member of the Southeast Asia Regional Executive Board.
Maldives will continue to participate in the Executive Board as a representative of the Southeast Asian region for a period of three years after it assumed the role back in 2022. Maldives will also be the Vice-Chair of the session.
This session is the highest level meeting of WHO where health professionals from 34 countries participate in making important international health decisions.
The session scheduled to be held from 3 to 5 February will discuss the decisions taken at last year's Regional Committee meetings held in the six regions of WHO and the reports of the Programme, Budget and Administrative Committee meetings.
The Executive Member States will also discuss and decide on the agenda to be taken up at this year’s 78th World Health Assembly. These include universal health coverage, which will enhance countries’ capacity to prepare and respond to health emergencies and meet Sustainable Development Goals, and address key decisions on advancing priorities to mitigate the adverse impact of climate change on health.
Participants will further discuss issues and present new ideas related to the most effective delivery of WHO assistance to countries.
On the sidelines of the session, Minister Nazim is scheduled to host several meetings with high level delegates of other participating countries, to enhance and develop the health sector in the Maldives.
The discussions will be focused towards human resource development, enhance public health and explore possible assistance to develop the country’s health sector, the Ministry said.