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SADC health ministers zoom in on public health issues

SADC health ministers zoom in on public health issues

The Ministers of Health and HIV and AIDS from the Southern African Development Community (SADC), met this week in Windhoek at the Namibia Institute of Public Administration Management (NIPAM).

The ministers deliberated on public health issues aimed at contributing to the attainment of improved quality of life of the people in the region.

The Joint Ministerial Meeting was hosted by the Namibia, and was attended by SADC Ministers or their representatives from Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The meeting was also attended by representatives from International and cooperating partners, United Nations Agencies, and Implementing Agencies, and was preceded by a two-day meeting of Senior Officials from the Health and HIV and AIDS sectors.

In his Keynote Address, the Minister of Health and Social Services, Dr. Bernhard Haufiku said the SADC Ministers of Health and those responsible for HIV and AIDS are mandated to oversee the implementation of sectorial policies, strategies and programmes, review progress to identify challenges and map way forward to overcome challenges for the greater good of the people in the region.

The SADC Deputy Executive Secretary for Regional Integration, Dr. Thembinkosi Mhlongo said that the meeting was taking place one year before the end of the implementation period of the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) 2015 – 2020 and gave an overview of the Secretariat’s implementation of priority programmes in the RISDP and specifically on the interventions in both Health and HIV and AIDS Sectors.

The ministers received reports on the implementation of decisions taken during the last ministerial meeting in November 2017, in Polokwane, South Africa, considered a range of regional strategies and guidelines, as they monitor and provide a collective oversight of the implementation of the regional health agenda as guided by the SADC Protocol on Health and the Regional Indicative Development Plan and the SADC Health Policy; and reviewed progress on major Communicable and Non-Communicable Disease.


 

About The Author

Donald Matthys

Donald Matthys has been part of the media fraternity since 2015. He has been working at the Namibia Economist for the past three years mainly covering business, tourism and agriculture. Donald occasionally refers to himself as a theatre maker and has staged two theatre plays so far. Follow him on twitter at @zuleitmatthys