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AFTNews, Features Phlippines, Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs)

Health leaders from Asian and Pacific nations gather in Manila to address key health issues

MANILA, Philippines l 24 October 2022 – Health ministers and senior officials from 37 countries and areas across Asia and the Pacific are meeting this week to address key health issues and priorities for the work of the World Health Organization (WHO) in the Western Pacific Region.

The 73rd session of the WHO Regional Committee for the Western Pacific from 24 to 28 October is a hybrid meeting, with many delegates joining in person in Manila, Philippines, and others connecting online.

WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus travelled to Manila and addressed the Regional Committee on day one: “Excellencies. Your agenda this week reflects the wide range of challenges you face as a region. I give you my commitment that your WHO will continue to support you, through our country and regional offices, and at headquarters, to promote, provide, protect, power and perform for health.”

In her remarks to the Committee, Dr Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO’s Deputy Director General and Officer-in-Charge of the Western Pacific Regional Office, said “The Region has made impressive achievements in the past year, rapidly rolling out COVID-19 vaccines, redesigning healthcare pathways to prepare for future pandemics, and driving forward the shared vision For the Future.”

In a presentation by the Region’s Directors on key achievements Dr Corinne Capuano, WHO Director of Programme Management for the Western Pacific, said “WHO in the Region has been responding to COVID-19 while continuing to drive forward our shared vision For the Future. The world and the Western Pacific look quite different compared to this time last year. More borders are open, more people are vaccinated, and, thankfully, far fewer are dying from COVID-19. In this Region, we have fared relatively well. Our collective investments and efforts – by leaders across the Region, by communities, and by individuals – have paid off. We have also built on our culture of learning and improving, and we have undertaken significant work to improve our workplace culture since we last met last year.”

During the seventy-third session of the Regional Committee this week, delegates will consider for endorsement resolutions on issues including:

• mental health

• cervical cancer

• noncommunicable disease prevention and control

• primary health care

• reaching the unreached.

In addition, this year’s session will feature a panel discussion on Communication for Health (C4H), and delegates will discuss progress in several programmes such as: health security, including COVID-19 and antimicrobial resistance; climate change, the environment and health; and advancing implementation of For the Future: Towards the Healthiest and Safest Region, the vision for WHO’s work with Member States and partners in the Western Pacific.

The Honourable Dr Bounfeng Phoummalaysith, Minister of Health of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, was elected Chair for this year’s session of the Regional Committee. Accepting the role, Dr Phoummalaysith said, “I am humbled by your trust and confidence in me to chair this seventy-third session of the WHO Regional Committee for the Western Pacific. I thank you all, and it is my pleasure to welcome you – physically and virtually – to Manila. I also wish to thank the outgoing Chairperson – the honourable Minister of Health of Tuvalu – and other officers of the last session. I will do my best to follow in your footsteps this week.”

The Honourable Dr Saia Ma’u Piukala, Minister of Health, Tonga, was elected Vice-Chair.

WHO

Working with 194 Member States across six regions, WHO is the United Nations specialized agency responsible for public health. Each WHO region has its own regional committee – a governing body composed of ministers of health and senior officials from the region’s Member States. Each regional committee meets annually to agree on health actions and chart priorities for WHO’s work.

WHOWPRO

The WHO Western Pacific Region is home to more than 1.9 billion people across 37 countries and areas in Asia and the Pacific: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Cook Islands, Fiji, France (which has responsibility for French Polynesia, New Caledonia, and Wallis and Futuna), Hong Kong SAR (China), Japan, Kiribati, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Macao SAR (China), Malaysia, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia (Federated States of), Mongolia, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (which has responsibility for Pitcairn Islands), the United States of America (which has responsibility for American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam), Vanuatu and Viet Nam.

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AFTNews, AFTNews, Features Phlippines

The Nobel Peace Prize 2021

AFT congratulates Philippine’s Maria Ressa of Rappler and Dmitry Muratov of Russia’s Novaja Gazeta

On Oslo, 8 October 2021, The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2021 to Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace.

Ms Ressa and Mr Muratov are receiving the Peace Prize for their courageous fight for freedom of expression in the Philippines and Russia. At the same time, they are representatives of all journalists who stand up for this ideal in a world in which democracy and freedom of the press face increasingly adverse conditions.

Maria Ressa uses freedom of expression to expose abuse of power, use of violence and growing authoritarianism in her native country, the Philippines. In 2012, she co-founded Rappler, a digital media company for investigative journalism, which she still heads. As a journalist and the Rappler’s CEO, Ressa has shown herself to be a fearless defender of freedom of expression. Rappler has focused critical attention on the Duterte regime’s controversial, murderous anti-drug campaign. The number of deaths is so high that the campaign resembles a war waged against the country’s own population. Ms Ressa and Rappler have also documented how social media is being used to spread fake news, harass opponents and manipulate public discourse.

Dmitry Andreyevich Muratov has for decades defended freedom of speech in Russia under increasingly challenging conditions. In 1993, he was one of the founders of the independent newspaper Novaja Gazeta. Since 1995 he has been the newspaper’s editor-in-chief for a total of 24 years. Novaja Gazeta is the most independent newspaper in Russia today, with a fundamentally critical attitude towards power. The newspaper’s fact-based journalism and professional integrity have made it an important source of information on censurable aspects of Russian society rarely mentioned by other media. Since its start-up in 1993, Novaja Gazeta has published critical articles on subjects ranging from corruption, police violence, unlawful arrests, electoral fraud and ”troll factories” to the use of Russian military forces both within and outside Russia.

Novaja Gazeta’s opponents have responded with harassment, threats, violence and murder. Since the newspaper’s start, six of its journalists have been killed, including Anna Politkovskaja who wrote revealing articles on the war in Chechnya. Despite the killings and threats, editor-in-chief Muratov has refused to abandon the newspaper’s independent policy. He has consistently defended the right of journalists to write anything they want about whatever they want, as long as they comply with the professional and ethical standards of journalism.

Free, independent and fact-based journalism serves to protect against abuse of power, lies and war propaganda. The Norwegian Nobel Committee is convinced that freedom of expression and freedom of information help to ensure an informed public. These rights are crucial prerequisites for democracy and protect against war and conflict. The award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov is intended to underscore the importance of protecting and defending these fundamental rights.

Without freedom of expression and freedom of the press, it will be difficult to successfully promote fraternity between nations, disarmament and a better world order to succeed in our time. This year’s award of the Nobel Peace Prize is therefore firmly anchored in the provisions of Alfred Nobel’s will.

Related:

  • The Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine goes to pressure and temperature sensing – read more
  • Watch A Thousand Cuts, the award-winning documentary featuring Maria Ressa, produced, directed and written by Ramona S. Diaz.

Source: MLA style: The Nobel Peace Prize 2021. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2021. Fri. 8 Oct 2021.