World Health Organisation (WHO) South East Asia Regional Committee discusses responding to increase in vector borne diseases, road safety and medicine availability.
The discussions were held between health officials from 11 regional countries during sessions of the regional committee held on Saturday and Sunday morning. Key issues has been discussed at the five day meeting held in Paradise Island Resort attended by health ministers and officials from 11 countries of South East Asia region.
High on the agenda on Saturday and Sunday were controlling and preventing vector borne diseases, road safety and medicine availability.
In recent years the transmission dynamics and risk of vector-borne diseases have shifted due to unplanned urbanisation, increased movement of people and goods, and environmental changes, especially in countries in the South East Asia region. World Health Organisation (WHO) states that to effectively respond to the growing risk of vector-borne diseases, countries need to strengthen coordination between health and non-health sectors, and within the health sector, emphasising the need for malaria and other vector-borne disease programmes to work closely with each other and to link-in with water, sanitation and hygiene initiatives and health management information systems.
Meanwhile, special sessions were also held on medicine availability, in regional countries. Across the South East Asia region, an estimated 65 million people are pushed into poverty due to out-of-pocket health-care payments, with the cost of medicines being one of the main causes.
Poor-quality or unsafe medicines likewise affects the ability of people to access the treatment they need, when they need it, while weak supply chains and inefficient procurement provide similar barriers. WHO highlighted key areas in which countries could work to overcome medicine availability, including need to increase national and regional collaboration on public procurement and pricing of medicine, sharing information on medicines prices, the need to fully operationalise the South East Asia Regulatory Network (SEARN) initiative and take advantage of comparative strengths in regulatory capacity. The WHO also noted that increased use of regionally produced, quality generic products, rational use of medicines especially antimicrobials and the urgent need for improved data on trends in access to medicines.
Another topic high on agenda at SEA committee on Sunday was the need to strengthen road safety. Road traffic injuries kill approximately 316 thousand people each year in the South-East Asia Region, equaling 865 fatalities each day. 20 to 50 times that number are injured or disabled and require long-term care. Vulnerable road users, pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists make up 50% of all road traffic deaths in the Region. WHO urged health ministers from across the South-East Asia region to intensify action to enhance road safety, including by strengthening post-crash response and working across sectors to increase the safety standard of roads and vehicles.
This and more has been discussed throughout different sessions held at the five day meeting which will come to an end tonight.