‘Elimination of Infectious Diseases from the South-East Asia Region: Keeping the Promise’ edited by Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia was launched on June 6.
The theme of this year’s Environment Day – “Only One Earth” – highlights the importance of living sustainably and in harmony with nature, calling for collective and transformative action on a global scale to celebrate, protect and restore our planet. It aligns with the focus of this year’s World Health Day – “Our Planet, Our Health”.
Relevant to these themes, is this book with a compilation of chapters authored by public health experts on the achievements by member countries such as elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis, yaws, malaria, lymphatic filariasis, trachoma, while moving towards a leprosy-free world.
These successes follow the elimination of neglected tropical diseases and others diseases on the verge of elimination, as a flagship priority in the South-East Asian Region (SEAR), when Dr Khetrapal Singh assumed office as Regional Director in 2014.
“This book shows the great progress that has been made in the control of communicable diseases in the Region during the past decade. It provides compelling insights into how this has been done with high-level commitment, funding and maintaining the sense of urgency. It provides good news at a time when the world is faced by the devastating effects of climate change,” said Prof. David Heymann, infectious disease epidemiologist and public health expert.
At the book launch, Dr Khetrapal Singh said, “climate change and other environmental determinants threaten to halt or even reverse the Region’s hard-won gains against communicable diseases, which would in turn negatively impact inclusive and sustainable social and economic growth”.
“Biodiverse and well-functioning ecosystems are vital to sustain and enhance human health. All people must have access to clean air, fresh water, and nutritional security to prevent disease and promote health, and to pursue sustainable livelihoods”, the Regional Director said.
Countries of the Region are already taking measures to address the problem, in line with the 2017 Malé Declaration, the Region’s 2019 Framework for Action on Building Health Systems Resilience to Climate Change, and the ‘One Health approach’ to addressing health threats at the human, animal and environment interface, she said.
Dr Khetrapal Singh said, “in the book, I highlight eight key areas of action which must define Region-wide efforts to control and eliminate communicable diseases and achieve Sustainable Development Goal targets - linking disease elimination with Universal Health Coverage (UHC); prioritizing multisectoral engagement; ensuring strong subnational action; ensuring rapid transmission of information; prioritizing disease surveillance; involving communities and people; maximizing access to global public goods; and recognizing the rights of affected people and communities,”
Dr Palitha Abeykoon, Special Envoy of the WHO Director-General for COVID-19 Colombo,
Sri Lanka, said the book is “inspiring, highly engaging and is a valuable collection of major achievements in communicable diseases control in our Region, as envisioned by Dr Khetrapal Singh at the beginning of her tenure. We all applaud her as the promises
have been kept”.
As the book emphasizes, it is now the responsibility of the countries and all of us to protect
and sustain these victories in the coming years particularly in the light of the economic
stressors that are being observed by some of our countries, he said.