29 Aug 2023

World Health Organisation (WHO) has committed P1.35 billion (US$100 million) towards five priorities dubbed 5Ps: promoting, providing, protecting, powering and performing for health reform to accelerate its General Programme of Work, Triple Billion targets and related SDG’s. director general of WHO, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus told delegates during the opening of the 73rd Session of the organisation’s regional committee for Africa (AFR/RC73) here Monday that the five priorities focused on promoting health and preventing disease by addressing root causes.

“Promoting, providing and protecting health have been proposed as the three key priorities for all member states in the 13th General Programme of Work, while other two Ps; powering and performing for health are enablers of the first three”, he said.

He said promotion included taking action to reduce tobacco use and harmful alcohol use, making diets healthier by reducing salt and sugar intake. Dr Ghebreyesus welcomed the regional multisectoral strategy to promote health and well-being and its framework for implementing the global alcohol action plan.

He congratulated Sierra Leone for passing a comprehensive tobacco control law and Kenya, which moved more than 2 000 tobacco farmers to alternative livelihoods.

The WHO director-general also commended Eswatini for finalising its road safety strategy, while Ethiopia, Ghana, Niger, Nigeria and Zambia received accolades for joining the Coalition of Action for Healthy Diets from Sustainable Food Systems. He said across the region, hundreds of millions of people lacked access to essential health services, or were pushed into poverty by catastrophic out-of-pocket spending, hence the need for every member state to prioritise closing the gaps.

He said maternal and child health also remained a major challenge in the continent, adding two-thirds of all maternal deaths occurred in Africa, with the latest estimates indicating that the maternal mortality ratio in the region was more than seven times higher than the SDG target.

On the positives, he said more than 1.5 million children had received the RTSS malaria vaccine, resulting in a 30 per cent reduction in hospitalisation due to severe malaria, and a 10 per cent drop in mortality among vaccine-eligible children. In the past year, he said, seven countries eliminated at least one neglected tropical disease.

“I am pleased to note that HPV coverage in the region increased from 26 per cent in 2021 to 33 per cent this year,” he said.

Dr Ghebreyesus said progress had been made towards improved access to essential medical products and strengthened regulatory systems. He noted that 26 African Union member states had ratified the Africa Medicines Agency Treaty, and urged the remaining countries to follow suit.

He said powering health meant harnessing the power of science, research and development, data and digital technologies, pointing out that digital technology, including artificial intelligence, held great promise for improving health.

“The WHO Global Strategy on Digital Health advocates people-centred, evidence-based, and inclusive solutions that empower patients and support countries on the path to universal health coverage,” he said.

He further said that two weeks back, WHO launched the Global Initiative on Digital Health, for coherent global standards, best practices and resources for digital health transformation, rooted in people-centred and evidence-based solutions. Dr Ghebreyesus said one of the key focuses for the remainder of his second term was to strengthen country offices, noting that P1.35 billion had been channeled towards that. Dr Ghebreyesus urged all member states to take decisive action to provide health, by reorienting their health systems towards primary health as the foundation of universal health coverage.

“I ask you to work with us on the “Big Catch Up”, to close gaps in immunisation coverage and reduce the unacceptably high burden of maternal mortality by expanding access to services for sexual and reproductive health,” he said. ENDS