MINSK, 21 May (BelTA) – Ukraine's Ministry of Health expressed gratitude to Belarus for helping Ukrainian schoolchildren who suffered injuries as a result of a road accident near Kamenets, BelTA learnt from the press service of Belarus' Healthcare Ministry.
Belarus' Healthcare Minister Valery Malashko and Acting Minister of Health of Ukraine Ulana Suprun met in Geneva where the 71st session of the World Health Assembly opened on 21 May.
Ulana Suprun thanked Belarus' representatives for assistance provided to Ukrainian schoolchildren who got in a road accident near Kamenets. She praised efficient and coordinated actions of Belarusian medical professionals and expressed appreciation for attention and care offered to the injured children and their parents who came to visit them from Ukraine. Valery Malashko who had taken the situation under his personal control updated his Ukrainian counterpart on the condition of the patients and promised to keep her in the know.
Valery Malashko and Ulana Suprun considered a possibility to run joint projects in transplantation. “We are really interested in Belarus' best practices in this field and would like to visit the country to study this matter,” Ulana Suprun noted. They also discussed a possibility to team up efforts to cheapen HIV medications.
A delegation of Belarus' Healthcare Ministry led by minister Valery Malashko is taking part in the 71st session of the World Health Assembly that is taking place in Geneva, Switzerland, on 21-26 May.
The session will be attended by healthcare ministers and delegates from 194 WHO Member States. They will discuss a broad range of issues, including the general agenda of the World Health Organization – the five-year strategic plan to help support countries to achieve the health-related targets across the Agenda for Sustainable Development. The WHO's general agenda features targets each comprising a one-billion people goal and together coined as the ‘triple billion goals'. They include: 1 billion more people benefitting from universal health coverage, 1 billion more people better protected from health emergencies, and 1 billion more people enjoying better health and well-being, respectively.
The assembly is to discuss preparedness and response of public health organizations to climate change. The delegates will study a draft roadmap to scale up efforts to mitigate the negative impact of air pollution on human health. The participants of the session will communicate their views on addressing the global shortage of medicines and vaccines, and discuss the global strategy and plan of action on public health, innovation and intellectual property. Other key points of the agenda include introduction of mobile healthcare and use of digital technologies in public healthcare.
In the run-up to the session, Belarus' representatives took part in a special 3-km run along Geneva's downtown. The route passed through key healthcare facilities, international organizations and tourist attractions. The Belarusian delegation was among the first to cross the finish line.
