WHO Headquarters, Manila Philippines: The Minister of Health and Human Services (MOHHS), Hon. Ota Kisino attended the Regional Committee Meeting (RCM) 2023, which will be held for a week in Manila, Philippines.

Minister Kisino was joined by Secretary of Health, Mrs. Francyne Wase-Jacklick, Mrs. Lucy Kisino, Dr. Dustin Bantol, Acting Deputy Secretary, and MOHHS Public Information Specialist, Ms. Eugen De Guzman.

A selection of officers was made among all the western pacific ministers during the inauguration to lead the Regional Committee Meeting (RCM) 2023. Honorable Dr. Mohamma Isham Jaafar, Minister of Brunei Darussalam, was elected as the chairperson for the 74th session of the WHO RCM 2023.

 

 

Director General of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus shared his warm welcome to all the ministers that flew in for the RCM. WHO Acting Regional Director, Ms. Zsuzsanna Jakab shared her words of welcoming as well. Health related topics such as the programme budget 2024-2025 were being discussed with an allocated time for intervention from each country’s representative.

 

During this session, the nomination of the Regional Director for the Western Pacific was expected to take place. Candidates for the next Regional Director are from Vietnam, Philippines, China, Solomon Islands, and lastly Tonga. Each runner was given an opportunity for a 30 minute speech. A voting was done after each presentation from five candidates and a tough selection from the minister's side.

 

Both runners from the Pacific, Solomon Islands and Tonga had a high number of votes.

 

Dr. Sa’ia Ma’u Piukala from Tonga was nominated the next Regional Director for the Western Pacific. Dr. Piukala is a surgeon with nearly 30 years of experience as a public health leader working in Tonga and across the Pacific.

Member states including the RMI delivered congratulatory interventions to the new Regional Director as well as acknowledgements to the Acting RD, Dr. Zsuzsanna Jakab.

 

Throughout the rest of the week, member states will deliberate and discuss regional strategies and policies around the issues of Health Security, Communication for Health, Sustainable Health Financing, just to name a few.

 

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