DOH USEC: APEC roadmap should“include” global health

CEBU, Philippines - The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation roadmap is being eyed to be expanded to include holistic global health and ensure sustainable and high-performing health systems.

Department of Health undersecretary Kenneth Hartigan-Go has emphasized that APEC roadmap must have “inclusivity” and “accessibility” to Universal Health Care aside from creating inclusive economies on infrastructure development, fiscal transparency and policy reform and financial resiliency, among others.

“This is an area that the strengths of APEC should be able to fully contribute to. With the renewed interest on Health, we hope that the collective efforts in APEC help put a strong foothold of health in economic and trade discussions,” said Go in a speech during the APEC 2nd Health Working Group Meeting yesterday.

The APEC roadmap, he said, should be dynamic enough in content as to be inclusive of updated technologies, responsive to the emerging needs and is building on the progressive gains from multi-sectoral participation.

Go added that it has to be maintained in the pursuit of achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and its special challenges.

“The global community has long recognized the contribution of improved Health in ensuring the progress across the three pillars of economic growth, social equity and environmental protection,” he said.

Go further said health agencies in 21 APEC member-economies need to address the increasing number of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which were underscored during the First Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM1), in Clark, Pampanga.

These were also highlighted in the “Healthy Asia Pacific 2020” initiative, which was passed in last year’s 4thAPEC High Level Meeting on Health and the Economy. This document gave emphasis on the critical need to ensure that sustainable and high-performing health systems will be developed and will be taking on a “health in all policies” and “whole of government and society” approach.

Go cited a report from the World Health Organization stating that the cost of reducing the global NCD burden is pegged at around US$ 11.2 billion a year.

“This figure is very alarming. We need to address this. We need continued national, regional, and international support particularly for the conduct of further researches to develop and introduce innovations and interventions like vaccines and point-of-care diagnostic tests,” he said.

According to Go, inclusion of the AMR being a growing threat highlights the need to ensure the importance and benefits of antimicrobial usage. This issue is closely linked to the increasing healthcare-associated infections (HAI) being experienced in all the regions.

He further said mental health should also be given importance through an integration of efforts between private and public sectors in the identification of innovative solutions to this “growing burden.”

Go also mentioned the increased global focus on EIDs like MERS CoV and the Ebola Virus Disease.

He said the global community has been taught on how to act against EIDs like implementing strong health systems and basic health infrastructure; strong surveillance efforts and other interventions; and competent health personnel and proper community engagement.

Furthermore, Go hopes that APEC economies will come up with an updated strategic plan for an effective governance mechanisms; regional action points; and complementation efforts of bodies within UN system.

“We can no longer work independently from one another. We have to do more collaborative work with the other stakeholders, with the Non-State Actors. By now, we should be able to identify the strengths of government, and of its partners, and fully maximize the available resources such as Public-Private Partnerships in health,” he said. — Kristine B. Quintas/NSA (FREEMAN)