Minister of Health Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham bin Haji Jaafar called on the World Health Organization (WHO) to maintain its support and technical assistance to member countries.
The Ministry of Health (MoH) is also committed to developing a skilled and qualified healthcare workforce and welcomes the focus on resilience and climate sustainability in the WHO Western Pacific Region’s five-year strategy.
The minister made these remarks during the 75th Regional Committee Meeting for the Western Pacific Region in Manila, Philippines being held from October 21 to 25.
The MoH delegation included Permanent Secretary at the MoH Haji Maswadi bin Haji Mohsin.
At the meeting’s opening, the minister, as the chair of the 74th Regional Committee Meeting, delivered a report on the achievements during his tenure.
This included the approval of the Asia Pacific Health Security Action Framework (APHSAF), which promotes a multilateral approach to addressing health threats and fosters collaboration among countries, partners and stakeholders.
The annual meeting discusses current health issues, policies, programmes and the future direction of WHO in the Western Pacific region. This year’s meeting focused on topics such as climate change resilience in healthcare facilities, transformative healthcare approaches, strengthening oral health, health funding and digital health and programme allocation evaluation.
Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham expressed support for the regional director’s vision ‘Weaving Health for Families, Communities and Societies’ in the Western Pacific Region, which aligns with the MoH’s new strategic plan focusing on excellent healthcare, non-communicable disease prevention and control as well as public health protection.
The minister also held bilateral meetings with Malaysian minister of health and the Philippines’ health secretary to discuss health sector development and cooperation between the countries. – James Kon
