VICE President General Retired Dr Constantino Chiwenga, who is also the Minister of Health and Child Care, has arrived in Geneva, Switzerland, ahead of the 76th Session of the World Health Assembly which kicks off on Sunday.
Vice President Chiwenga is also expected to hold several meetings with key stakeholders in the global health sector and share notes with other health ministers from the 194-member countries that make up the assembly.
“We are here to do two things; celebrate the 76th anniversary of the World Health Organisation and also attend the World Health Assembly of Ministers of Health. We will be meeting with different groups from the global fund of the UNAIDS and other health stakeholders. So we have come with a delegation of experts in the health sector and other dependent. This is going to run until the 29th of May,” he said.
With the COVID-19 pandemic no longer a health emergency, the 76th World Health Assembly will provide a platform for health ministers and experts to share notes on how to navigate future health emergencies.
“The focus of this assembly is to look forward to how the international global health community can come together as one and mobilise and coordinate so that the world is better prepared to handle this health emergency should it arise again in the future. So this meeting will give all 194 member states a chance to look back and learn the lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic and then plan for the future to make sure that even when such another emergency arises that the world is better prepared and from an African perspective there has been a lot of work done by the African union commission and the African centre for disease control have been working very hard with the world health organisation to try and put mechanism and to raise funds and resources to strengthen health care systems across the world and we are very much part of that,” explained Zimbabwe’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Stuart Comberbach.
The World Health Assembly is the decision-making body of the World Health Organisation (WHO).
It is attended by delegations from all WHO member states and focuses on current and future priorities for public health issues of global importance.
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