Paro, Bhutan | 2 September 2022
Addressing
mental health through primary care and community engagement, strengthening
health emergency preparedness and response in view of the ongoing COVID-19
pandemic and emerging threats, and achieving universal health coverage and
health security through stronger primary health care, are among key issues that
ministers of health, senior officials, and health partners will deliberate on
during a week-long meeting starting Monday.
The Seventy Fifth Regional Committee Session of WHO South-East Asia, the annual
governing body meeting of WHO in the Region, being hosted by Bhutan this year,
will be held here from 5 to 9 September.
The Regional Director for WHO South-East Asia, Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh,
officials from WHO headquarters, senior officials from health ministries of
Member countries, representatives of UN Agencies, partners, donors, and civil
society, will be participating in the meeting.
Monitoring progress and accelerated plan for noncommunicable diseases, progress
towards meeting the End TB goal, accelerating elimination of cervical cancer;
and strengthening health workforce education and training are among other key
issues to be taken up at the Regional Committee Session, the highest decision
making body of WHO in the Region.
The progress made on the resolutions adopted at previous Regional Committee
sessions will be reviewed, including regional plan of action for healthy
environments for healthier populations; strategic plan to address the double
burden of malnutrition; ending preventable maternal, newborn and child
mortality; elimination of measles and rubella by 2023; and strengthening
emergency medical teams.
Home to one-fourth of the global population, the Region has been focusing
efforts around eight regional flagship priorities since 2014 - to eliminate
measles and rubella by 2023; address noncommunicable diseases through
multisectoral policies and plans; accelerate reduction of maternal, neonatal
and under-five mortality; advance universal health coverage; reverse
antimicrobial resistance; scale-up emergency risk management capacities;
eliminate neglected tropical diseases; and End TB. The Regional priorities are
in sync with Sustainable Development Goals for Health.
Over the years, Member countries have been driving substantive gains in health
and wellbeing in line with the flagships. The Region eradicated polio in 2014
and eliminated maternal and neonatal tetanus in 2016. Maldives and Sri Lanka
have eliminated both measles and rubella, while Bhutan, DPR Korea and
Timor-Leste have achieved measles elimination. Maldives, Sri Lanka and Thailand
have eliminated lymphatic filariasis. Nepal and Myanmar have eliminated
trachoma. India is yaws-free. Sri Lanka and Maldives have eliminated
malaria. Thailand, Sri Lanka and Maldives have eliminated mother-to-child
transmission of HIV and Syphilis. Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Thailand have
controlled Hepatitis B.
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, this is the first time that the
Regional Committee session is being held in person. The last two annual
meetings – hosted by Nepal in 2021, and Thailand in 2020 – were virtual.