The World Health Organization Regional Office for the Western Pacific convened a meeting today on how to best serve Member States in the Region.
The meeting was a side event at the Regional Committee for the Western Pacific, the regional governing body that is holding its five-day annual session to discuss the Region's most pressing health concerns, including dengue, malaria, environmental health, the Sustainable Development Goals and health emergencies.
WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific Dr Shin Young-soo said country support has been a high priority since he was elected in 2009. He said, "While WHO headquarters takes a broad global view, our focus at the regional level must be sharply attuned to the needs of our Member States.
"Our efforts were intended to make all the technical programmes and offices collaborate in a more cross-cutting manner, and become responsive to country-specific needs," he added. "WHO country offices are the face of our Organization. They are our most important asset in serving Member States."
The WHO Director of Programme Management in the Western Pacific Region, Dr Takeshi Kasai, explained that the Organization has taken action in six areas to improve support to Member States:
- Leveraging WHO's three levels
- Focusing WHO's support where we can make a difference
- Placing the right people in the right places
- Effectively engaging partners
- Enhancing communications
- Improving operational intelligence
The event focused specifically on leveraging WHO's three levels – headquarters, regional offices and country offices — to improve health outcomes in countries. Efforts focused on improving how the Organization works together to provide quality and timely support to countries, optimizing the use of resources and increasing efficiencies.
Participants shared case studies. Dr Bounkong Syhavong, Minister of Health of the Lao People's Democratic Republic, joined the WHO Representative Dr Juliet Fleischl to speak on the response to the outbreak of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 1. Michael Malabag, Minister for Health and HIV/AIDS in Papua New Guinea, and the WHO Representative Dr Pieter van Maaren also made a presentation on drug-resistant tuberculosis.
A moderated panel discussion was also held with other WHO representatives and country liaison officers explaining how the three levels of the Organization work together.
To improve collaboration among WHO offices in the Region and reduce travel costs, WHO country offices in the Region are now connected via Internet for telephonic and videoconferences. All 15 WHO country offices in the Region participated in today's event via videoconference.
Other examples of strengthened coordination include global work to delineate the roles of WHO's three levels led by a working group, chaired by the regional directors for the Eastern Mediterranean and Western Pacific regions.
In the Western Pacific Region, initiatives include establishing networks of programme management offices and administrators to ensure good planning, alignment with organizational goals and appropriate use of resources. Consultation with WHO representatives and country liaison officers has also increased to three times a year. Meetings of technical coordinators are convened every two months to identify areas for cross-programmatic work and collaboration.
The side event is part of broader discussions on improving ways of working and sharing best practices. At the sixty-sixth session of the WHO Regional Committee for the Western Pacific in 2015, the suggestion was made that reports from country offices be presented at each session of the Regional Committee.
In May 2016, the World Health Assembly decision WHA69(14) invited regional committees to "improve oversight of the work of regional and country offices, including through identifying best practices and establishing a set of requirements on the reporting
of regional and country office management, financial information and programme results to Regional Committees."