Ιnvesting in preparedness for emergencies while strengthening health services is the “dual-track approach” to health that emerges as the “new normal”, according to the deliberations at the 72nd session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe (RC72), which took place in Tel Aviv. This message was conveyed during a joint press conference by Nitzan Horowitz, Health Minister of Israel and Dr. Hans Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe.
Nitzan Horowitz, Health Minister of Israel, said that the 72nd session of the WHO Europe in Tel Aviv ‘is an exhibition of our commitment to our shared values and providing good quality and equitable health’. He also stated that countries strengthened their relations, connected and shared the newest technology in the field of health.
Horowitz went on to say that COVID-19 and health emergencies are blind to borders between countries, race, belief or religion, adding that another important factor in managing pandemics and any health crisis is equal access to health. ‘Countries with strong state-regulated universal health coverage are much more prepared and protected from major crises’, he said.
‘Global cooperation is another asset we must cultivate not only in the face of pandemics’, stated the Israeli Health Minister, explaining that this is one of the reasons for Israel’s initiative to open an International Centre for Digital Health, ‘in order to make healthcare more effective and more accessible to everyone’.
‘Concerning emergency crises, Israel seeks to play a positive role in tackling major global crises and tragedies. This includes providing medical assistance to Ukraine and adapting our health services in the face of global climate changes’, Horowitz stated.
Furthermore, Health Minister of Israel spoke about access to safe abortions, pointing out that ‘abortion is not only a human right, not only a woman’s right, to make a decision concerning a life but is also her right to health, it is a health right’. He went on to say that Israel has recently passed new regulations to make it much easier for women to choose to have an abortion, with minimal bureaucracy and less state intervention in their decision. ‘This joins a series of decisions we recently took to equalise healthcare to LGBTQ people and promote services to transgender people’, he added.
On his part, Dr. Hans Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe, called the 72nd session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe (RC72) ‘a genuine success’ and praised Israel for its continued commitment to public health along with innovations in digital health.
Kluge said that he has 2 main messages, the first one being that ‘in a world of ever-rising health crises, at a time of economic turmoil, we must accept and work within the reality of a new normal requiring a dual-track approach to health’. He pointed out that this means, on the one hand, we must significantly invest in preparedness for mounting and often overlapping emergencies. On the other hand, we must ensure that we maintain and strengthen day-to-day essential health services all the more.
‘The pandemic itself is far from over. Too many people are still dying unnecessarily – more than 3000 last week in our Region. And we’re expecting a surge in the autumn and winter, with many people still unvaccinated’, said the WHO Regional Director for Europe, adding that at least 17 million individuals across the WHO European Region may have experienced long COVID in the first 2 years of the pandemic.
On the other hand, Kluge pointed out, the number of monkeypox cases is reducing in some countries, but we cannot be complacent. ‘We have many tools to control the outbreak, but we need greater political will’, he said.
Kluge also said that poliomyelitis has resurfaced in unexpected ways in Europe and elsewhere. There are genetic linkages between the virus recently found in the United States of America to the virus found in some parts of our Region, including Israel, which in turn is linked to poliovirus in South Asia.
He also stressed the need for ‘increased investments on multiple fronts using the best science, tools and technologies available’, adding that the WHO Regional Committee has introduced ‘ambitious yet practical roadmaps and frameworks to eliminate cervical cancer and to end tuberculosis, HIV, sexually transmitted infections and viral hepatitis’. There are also action plans to reduce alcohol consumption and target a range of noncommunicable diseases that kill millions, Kluge said.
He went on to say that countries have adopted a WHO European framework for action to achieve the highest attainable standard of health for people with disabilities. He also noted that Member States have adopted 2 of WHO/Europe’s 4 flagship initiatives: the Behavioural and Cultural Insights (BCI) Action Framework and the Digital Health Action Framework.
The WHO Regional Director for Europe Now said that his second main message is a warning regarding the need to address the issue of the health and care workforce suffering from personnel shortages, insufficient recruitment and retention, migration of qualified workers, unattractive working conditions, and a lack of professional development opportunities. ‘The pandemic only made things worse. If not addressed urgently, this could spell disaster. We absolutely need an optimal health and care workforce in place on all fronts’, he emphasised.
Source: Cyprus News Agency