4-day health ministers' meet begins tomorrow
Health ministers from eleven countries of South-East Asia Region of WHO will attend a four-day meeting in Dhaka that starts tomorrow.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the meeting at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel.
Dr Margaret Chan, WHO director general, and Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, regional director for South-East Asia, and health experts and officials will join the event.
It will discuss ways of addressing vector-borne diseases to adopt the Dhaka declaration on the issue, WHO officials told journalists at a workshop, arranged ahead of the meeting, at Cirdap auditorium in the capital yesterday.
Globally, a billion people are estimated to be infected from vector-borne diseases, and over a million die from them each year, according to WHO. Millions of people in the South-East Asia Region (SEARO) are at risk of dengue, malaria, lymphatic filariasis and kala-azar, it says.
The SEARO member countries are Bangladesh, Bhutan, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Timor-Leste.
“Traditional medicine and setting its norms in this region, civil registration and vital statistics will feature the sessions of the regional committee,” said Vismita Gupta Smith, public information and advocacy officer for WHO regional office in Delhi at the workshop.
Meanwhile, Indian High Commission in Dhaka yesterday said Indian Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan is due today to attend the meeting.
During his visit, Dr Vardhan will also call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Health Minister Mohammed Nasim.
The two countries will also sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation in the field of traditional medicine and homoeopathy.
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