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RA MINISTER OF HEALTH PARTICIPATED IN WHO EUROPEAN MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
armradio.am
27.06.2008 10:55
Over 500 health decision-makers - including ministers of health and
finance - from 53 countries have set the WHO European Region on course
to tackle both longstanding and new challenges to health systems,
at the WHO European Ministerial Conference on Health Systems, which
is taking place in Tallinn, Estonia.
The Conference made a public health breakthrough by providing,
for the first time, a platform for debates on often sensitive and
politically charged health issues, such as equitable access to health
care, transparent health financing and accountability for public
health spending.
In ministerial panel discussions, ministers of health from Armenia,
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Serbia
and The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, emphasized that a
good health system is not a luxury for affluent countries alone,
but a fundamental part of prosperity for all countries.
Speakers stressed that a health system involves much more than
simply paying for doctors and hospitals. "It encompasses all parts of
society and its various institutions that affect health. It includes
the health ministry's ability to influence other ministries - such
as transport, environment and education - to follow policies that
improve the health of the population," said Dr Marc Danzon, WHO
Regional Director for Europe.
Nevertheless, participants repeatedly stressed that investing in
health is not enough; performance matters. "If you call for more,
not less, spending on health, based on the claim that it creates
additional health and economic benefits, and at the same time you
give the health ministry more intrusive powers that allow it to
affect the policy-making decisions of sister ministries, then you must
demonstrate the effectiveness of these measures," said Dr Nata Menabde,
Deputy Regional Director, WHO Regional Office for Europe. This means
being accountable for where money is spent, choosing the appropriate
technology and showing that it was the best of the available options
and properly used.
Ms Maret Maripuu, Minister of Social Affairs of Estonia, and President
of the Conference, said, "We need to see health beyond health care. We
need to realize that health stands on three rails: prevention, cure
and care, which are all equally important components of an effective
health system. We need to find a way to measure the performance in
order to maintain the effectiveness."
In her keynote address, Ms Mary Robinson, President of Realizing
Rights: the Ethical Globalization Initiative, stressed that health is
a fundamental right of all people and has value in itself, and that
it is in the interest of all governments to be more accountable for
the performance of their health systems.
Professor Martin McKee, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical
Medicine, United Kingdom, emphasized the complex interrelationships
between health systems, health and wealth. He noted the many
difficulties in measuring health systems' performance, including
finding effective indicators for the task, and the lack of systems
for performance measurement in many WHO Member States.
The information and perspectives presented at the Conference have
advanced the debate on health systems, health and wealth. Many
countries are eager to improve the performance of their health systems,
although they recognize the need to face challenges in, for example,
the financing and governance of their systems.
armradio.am
27.06.2008 10:55
Over 500 health decision-makers - including ministers of health and
finance - from 53 countries have set the WHO European Region on course
to tackle both longstanding and new challenges to health systems,
at the WHO European Ministerial Conference on Health Systems, which
is taking place in Tallinn, Estonia.
The Conference made a public health breakthrough by providing,
for the first time, a platform for debates on often sensitive and
politically charged health issues, such as equitable access to health
care, transparent health financing and accountability for public
health spending.
In ministerial panel discussions, ministers of health from Armenia,
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Serbia
and The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, emphasized that a
good health system is not a luxury for affluent countries alone,
but a fundamental part of prosperity for all countries.
Speakers stressed that a health system involves much more than
simply paying for doctors and hospitals. "It encompasses all parts of
society and its various institutions that affect health. It includes
the health ministry's ability to influence other ministries - such
as transport, environment and education - to follow policies that
improve the health of the population," said Dr Marc Danzon, WHO
Regional Director for Europe.
Nevertheless, participants repeatedly stressed that investing in
health is not enough; performance matters. "If you call for more,
not less, spending on health, based on the claim that it creates
additional health and economic benefits, and at the same time you
give the health ministry more intrusive powers that allow it to
affect the policy-making decisions of sister ministries, then you must
demonstrate the effectiveness of these measures," said Dr Nata Menabde,
Deputy Regional Director, WHO Regional Office for Europe. This means
being accountable for where money is spent, choosing the appropriate
technology and showing that it was the best of the available options
and properly used.
Ms Maret Maripuu, Minister of Social Affairs of Estonia, and President
of the Conference, said, "We need to see health beyond health care. We
need to realize that health stands on three rails: prevention, cure
and care, which are all equally important components of an effective
health system. We need to find a way to measure the performance in
order to maintain the effectiveness."
In her keynote address, Ms Mary Robinson, President of Realizing
Rights: the Ethical Globalization Initiative, stressed that health is
a fundamental right of all people and has value in itself, and that
it is in the interest of all governments to be more accountable for
the performance of their health systems.
Professor Martin McKee, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical
Medicine, United Kingdom, emphasized the complex interrelationships
between health systems, health and wealth. He noted the many
difficulties in measuring health systems' performance, including
finding effective indicators for the task, and the lack of systems
for performance measurement in many WHO Member States.
The information and perspectives presented at the Conference have
advanced the debate on health systems, health and wealth. Many
countries are eager to improve the performance of their health systems,
although they recognize the need to face challenges in, for example,
the financing and governance of their systems.