Call to Action - Development of Position Paper for 61st WHO Africa Regional Committee Meeting

Dear PHM colleagues

PHM Ghana is in the process of developing a position paper in the lead up to the 61st WHO Africa Regional Committee Meeting. Please see email below. They are calling on friends and members for input which you can send to the PHM Ghana email phmghana@gmail.com.

Regards

Linda


Dear Colleagues and Friends of PHM-Ghana,

Next week our Minister of Health will be attending the 61st WHO Africa Regional Committee Meeting in Yamoussoukro, Cote d'Ivore, together with 45 other Ministers of Health from other African countries. The documents and resolutions that will be discussed at this meeting have now been uploaded on the website: http://www.afro.who.int/en/sixty-first-session.

We are calling on friends and members of PHM-Ghana to contribute to discussions on the agenda items through a joint position paper to Ghana's delegation (most likely civil society will not be included in this delegation). Note that unlike meetings of the WHO Headquarters, where there are clear procedures on the participation of civil society, the process of civil society's participation in the regional committee meeting is unclear.

PHM-Ghana is suggesting the preparation of a joint civil society position paper on the agenda items for submission to the MoH ahead of the meeting. Given that we have less than a week to do this, we will have to work mainly online and possibly with a few meetings in Accra. By tomorrow we will circulate a more detailed road-map on the way forward.

In the meantime, we have gone through and prioritized the items from the meeting agenda to five core items (note that the prioritization is necessary given the limited time left):
Agenda item 8. Panel Discussion: Health Financing - Sharing experiences in securing funding to achieve national health development goals (Document AFR/RC61/PD/1)
Agenda item 9. Framework document for the African Public Health Emergency Fund (Document AFR/RC61/4)
Agenda item 10. WHO Reform for a Healthy Future (Document AFR/RC61/5)
Agenda item 13. Measles elimination by 2020: A strategy for the African Region (Document AFR/RC61/8)
Agenda item 15. Framework for public health adaptation to climate change in the African Region (Document AFR/RC61/10)
Thank you and looking forward to working with you all in the coming days,

John, Kingsley, Rudolf, Hor, Grace and Nicholas
PHM-Ghana