Health Minister to lead Gambian delegation to 61st WHO African meeting

The Minister of Health and Social Welfare Hon. Fatim Badjie is expected to head a Gambian delegation to the 61st session of the WHO Regional Committee meeting for Africa.

According to a press release issued by the WHO country office in Banjul, the African Health Ministers and experts meeting will be held in Cote d’Ivoire from 29 August to 2 September 2011.

Delegates from the 46 countries of WHO in the African region are expected to attend, as well as a host of international organizations / institutions, civil society organizations and individuals from within and outside the African continent.

Among the issues to be discussed at this year’s meeting are the 2010 annual report of the regional director on the work of the WHO in the African Region, health financing, implementation of the health related MDGs and, in particular, a progress report on the roadmap for accelerating the attainment of the MDG goals related to maternal and new-born health in Africa, and the WHO programme budget for 2012 and 2013, among others.

In addition to the core business of the meeting, Health ministers will hold side meetings with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria and the Global Alliance for Vaccine Initiative Secretariat (GAVI) to discuss lessons learnt from round 10 and the preparation of round 11.

The African Federation of Public Health Associations will also be launched during the meeting.