Beijing, China – The Director General of the National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL), Cllr. Tolbert Nyenswah, LLB, MPH, as part of a high-leveled CDC-Africa delegation, has joined other public health experts from around the world in pursuit of the Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), to participate in a consultative meeting on China-Africa Health Cooperation in Beijing. The forum is sponsored by the National Health Commission and China-CDC; Peoples’ Republic of China it takes place from August 15 to 20, 2018 in Beijing, China.
A dispatch from Beijing says the 2018 High-level meeting on China-Africa Health Cooperation will provide an excellent opportunity to discuss recommendations that shape the outcome of the Beijing Summit FOCAC (Forum on China-Africa Cooperation), to be held in September 2018 in Beijing which will set the stage for future health cooperation between China and Africa.
The release further asserted that the meeting is intended to comprehensively summarize the progress and experience harvested from China-Africa collaboration in the health sector and to discuss and explore ways for cooperation between China and Africa in the new era.
The forum will contribute to the Belt and Road Initiative, facilitate the establishment of the “Health Silk Road” (President Xi Jinping’s proposal seeking to strengthen and renew ancient links between cultures and people, with health at its core) and build up the community of shared future in the health sector. The event also aims to push forward the attainment of the goals of the Africa Union’s Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the release indicated.
The Government of China plans to carry out 10 major cooperation projects in Africa in the next three years and the China-Africa Public Health Cooperation Project is one of such projects which aims to build more strong and resilient health systems to attain Universal Health Coverage.
It can be recalled during the Ebola crisis in Liberia, China built and operated a state-of-the-art Ebola Treatment Unit near SKD and provided logistics and medical emergencies to the incident management system of the Liberian Government. China and other partners (multilateral and bilateral) have been engaged in the health sector of Liberia and still providing the needed support. NPHIL seeks to leverage this good way.
Delivering a high-leveled discourse at the meeting, D.G. Nyenswah said, he is in strong support of
President Weah’s Pro-Poor Agenda for Transformation and development pillar one “Power to the People” of which health care for the people of Liberia is paramount, noting “Investing in primary (clinics, health centers) and secondary (county referral hospitals) health care is the cornerstone in delivering an essential package of health services that are in dire need in Liberia. This is in line with the World Health Organization, Alma-Ata Declaration of 1978, which identified primary health care as the key to the attaining the goal of health for all or universal health coverage, in the twenty-first century. This will benefit approximately 60% of the 4.5 million Liberians the poor people that access primary and secondary healthcare services regularly.”
In a related development, Nyenswah applause President Weah for constituting the long-awaited National Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Commission-(WASH) further making the Director General of NPHIL a member of the Board of Directors. Recounting that Water Sanitation and Hygiene is a critical component of the SDGs. “Investing in WASH, Education and other social services are important social determinants of Health”
He also commended the Liberian media especially news editors and reporters for constantly verifying information with the National Public Health Institute before reporting, he use recent news of Ebola scare in the country as a case in point when some senior news editors call the institute to fact-check their reporting. He said there will always be detractors who want to buy public sympathy and sentiments for their selfish aims. Those individual(s) should not be given credence as NPHIL is an evidence-based scientific institution that upholds integrity and fairness.