Regional members begin the work to draft declaration to be submitted for the 70th World Health Organization (WHO) Regional committee meeting for South-East Asia.
Members from 11 countries of South East Asia Regional Office (SEARO) met at Champa Central Hotel in Male' City, Maldives, to formulate the "Male' Declaration" which would be signed by member states during the regional meeting. The SEARO committee meeting is scheduled to be held during September in Maldives.
The committee meeting aims to bring together the health professionals, including ministers and policy level staff to discuss health issues faced in the region, ways to combat said issues and formulate policies in a regional level. This year's theme for the SEARO meeting is "Environment and Health."
Speaking to PSM News, Minister of Health Abdulla Nazim Ibrahim said climate change poses adverse effects to the health sector. The Health Minister said small island states like Maldives can help draft papers related to the negative effects of climate change on the health sector and bring attention to such issues at a regional level. Minister Nazim said the proposed declaration would outline not only the issues but possible ways to combat the problems. He said the declaration would help regional countries to work together to improve regional health sector. He added that regional countries will deliberate and come to agreements on various issues related to environment and health at the workshop.
The Regional Committee for South-East Asia is the World Health Organization's governing body in the South-East Asia Region, with representation from all 11 member states of the Region.
The committee meets in September every year to review progress in health development in the Region as well as to consider the regional implications of the World Health Assembly resolutions, among others. This report summarizes the discussions of the Sixty-ninth Session of the Regional Committee held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on September 2016.
At this session, the Committee reviewed and discussed a number of public health issues important to the Region, such as the Sustainable Development Goals, addressing non-communicable diseases at the primary health care level, neglected tropical diseases, migration and health, and International Health Regulations post-2016, among others.
The Committee adopted a number of resolutions on selected issues. This year's host and chair for the SEARO Committee meeting is Maldives.