WHO now better prepared for new health challenges

MANILA, Philippines – Months after declaring a post-pandemic period for Influenza A (H1N1), leaders of the World Health Organization (WHO) gave assurance that they are “better prepared than ever” to respond to emerging health challenges.

In a statement, Dr. Shin Young-Soo, WHO regional director for Western Pacific, said there has been “significant progress” over the years in four health concerns.

These are on the 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDG) on the eradication of extreme poverty; reduction of maternal and child mortality and fighting diseases; strengthening capacity in the region to respond to public health emergencies; revitalizing efforts to fight non-communicable diseases; and strengthening of health systems.

WHO policy-makers and health experts from member-countries are now in Malaysia for the annual meeting of the regional committee to discuss health issues affecting countries in the region.

On the MDGs, Shin said the Western Pacific “was the best performing of all the WHO regions.”

“We are on track to meet, or even exceed, the heath-related goals. But there was one exception — maternal mortality… I find it shameful that women are still dying in childbirth. As we all know, most of these deaths are preventable,” he added.

According to Shin, the response to the H1N1 pandemic is “not always easy.”

“Calibrating the response, dealing with uncertainty, communicating effectively, managing complex logistics — all of these posed challenges,” he said.

But Shin said that despite this, “we, as a region, came through this together. Information was shared between member-states in an open and timely manner.”

“Vaccine was donated and deployed to the 16 countries in the region that requested it and travel and trade disruptions were kept to a minimum,” he added.

Shin committed to make it his “personal mission” to eliminate leprosy in the region as there are still a few Pacific island countries reporting new cases.

He also wanted lymphatic filariasis and yaws “banished” from the region, which has a total population of 1.9 billion.

Shin said the WHO and its member-countries have “unfinished business with these three diseases.” 

“So many issues — from antimicrobial resistance and emergency preparedness to non-communicable diseases and the potential impact of climate change — cannot be tackled by the health sector alone,” he added.