Africa-Press – Botswana. Minister of Health, Dr Edwin Dikoloti was elected president of the World Health Assembly at the 77th session of the assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, on Monday.
Addressing the assembly after assuming the presidency, Dr Dikoloti said his presidency had great meaning for Botswana and the entire African community.
He said the meeting was convened during an unprecedented time in history when multilateralism was undergoing transformation, and that it was more important than ever before to safeguard international cooperation and global solidarity.
He commended the World Health Organisation (WHO) for supporting member states to attain the “triple billion” target as set out in the organisations 13th general programme of work.
He said globally 585 million people were expecting to be provided with essential health services without catastrophic spending, and that 777 million more people were expecting to be better protected from health emergencies.
Dr Dikoloti said substantial progress had been made in Africa and that success stories include the eradication of smallpox, certification of wild poliovirus as well as managing health emergencies such as Ebola and the elimination of some tropical diseases.
However, he said the continent now had to deal with the increasing burden of hypertension, diabetes and other non-communicable diseases.
He said the 14th general programme of work that would be considered aimed to bring together member states, the WHO secretariat and a broad coalition of partners around a shared strategy to promote, provide and protect health. He added that it should also propel them to realise WHO’s founding vision for the highest attainable standard of health as a fundamental right for all.
He said they welcomed the priorities and would enable them to accelerate progress towards universal health coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals target.
He urged WHO to facilitate member states to strengthen their health systems in order to build resilience to prevent, prepare and respond to health emergencies.
He said it included the implementation of a one health approach and the management of chronic non-communicable diseases, particularly in low and middle-income countries.
Dr Dikoloti also noted that in 2021 WHO member states negotiated a pandemic agreement under the auspices of WHO with the aim of strengthening global health security.
Dr Dikoloti said lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic needed the international community to ensure that a multilateral governance mechanism was in place to ensure equitable access to vaccines, medicines, diagnostics and other medical products and tools.
He said the pandemic agreement must support regional efforts and ensure the transfer of knowledge and intellectual property as well as trained human resources and financing for the sustainability of pharmaceutical production facilities.
He added that another priority was to ensure that state parties respected WHO guidance and international health regulations in terms of travel and trade.
He said member states must consolidate the gains achieved and work to conclude negotiations in a timely manner, adding that they must address equity with clear and tangible outcomes.
Ministry of Health chief public relations officer, Dr Christopher Nyanga said as president of the assembly, Dr Dikoloti would chair all sessions of the World Health Assembly until the next meeting next year.
He said the assembly was the highest WHO decision making body that took decisions on appropriate approaches that countries should adopt to create strong and resilient health systems and to respond to public health threats and emergencies.
He also noted that Dr Dikoloti was the chairperson of the WHO Africa Region, adding that Dr Matshidiso Moeti, also from Botswana, was the WHO regional director for the Africa Region.
The assembly is attended by 194 ministers of health from across the world and will end on Saturday.
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