Africa-Press – Mauritius. A four-day training workshop to institutionalise the National Health Observatory (NHO), opened, this morning, in the presence of the Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Kailesh Kumar Singh Jagutpal, at the Maritim Resort & Spa in Balaclava.
An initiative of the Ministry of Health and Wellness in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO), the workshop is regrouping around 50 participants. The facilitators are three WHO representatives, namely Dr Serge Bataliack, Dr Sokona Sy; and Ms Bertha Kembabazi.
In his keynote address, Minister Jagutpal indicated that as per the Atlas of African Health Statistics 2022, Mauritius had the best civil registration in Africa with almost 100% of births and deaths recorded.
“Mauritius,” he said, “also features in the Top 3 in terms of quality of care alongside Namibia and Seychelles.
” “According to the Access to Health Services Index, Mauritius is ranked among the top 3 in Africa averaging 60 to 79 percent,” the Minister indicated, adding that no country in Africa had been able to reach a coverage of 80 percent and above.
“My Ministry,” stated Dr Jagutpal, “is determined to reach this target and has already started working on the decentralisation of health services in the country.
” He pointed out that Government was investing massively in health infrastructure such as the setting up of Area Health Centres, Community Health Centres and Mediclinics, to improve the quality of life of citizens and cater to their health.
Speaking of health statistics, Minister Jagutpal underlined that they were regularly updated by Statistics Mauritius while emphasising that the Health Records Division carried out surveillance of various diseases including Upper Respiratory Tract Infection, Gastroenteritis and Conjunctivitis, and published weekly reports.
“An Annual and four-yearly reports are published by the Mauritius National Cancer Registry,” he added.
Moreover, he indicated that the Non-Communicable Diseases survey was carried out each five years in Mauritius and Rodrigues to determine the prevalence of diseases such as Diabetes, Hypertension and Cardiovascular Diseases.
According to the Minister, the National Health Accounts, institutionalised in Mauritius in 2015, was an important tool for evidence-based policy making and its main aim was to summarise and analyse the financing of health systems.
“These data are precious for institutions such as the WHO, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the European Union and other stakeholders who finance local projects,” he stated.
As regards the e-Health project, he noted that it was progressing with the support of the UNDP in view to ease sharing and access of information. “These data,” he added, “help to understand health issues, establish what needs to be improved and ultimately deliver better services more effectively, efficiently and equitably.
Minister Jagutpal indicated that institutionalising the NHO would make information accessible on the integrated Africa Health Observatory, which was an online web-based strategic health intelligence platform for consolidating and disseminating health data and information for 47 Member States of the WHO.
“It is a one-stop shop that is home to multiple inter-connected regional and country-specific platforms aiming to provide independent but inter-linked information,” he said.
“The NHO,” he stated, “will also contribute in decision-making and setting goals and priorities to ensure better health and well-being for African populations in line with Strategic Goal 18 of the Health Sector Strategic Plan 2020-2024, that is ‘generating sound and reliable information at all levels of the health system in a holistic approach for better decision-making’.
Also present, the representative of the WHO Country Office, Mr Nundoochand, reiterated the support of the WHO to assist Mauritius in the establishment and implementation of the NHO.
He dwelt on the importance of reliable health records and underlined that the consolidation and dissemination of health information was key to leverage health policy making and monitoring universal health coverage.
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