The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : `Focus will be on partnerships with Government'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 25, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

`Focus will be on partnerships with Government'

By Ramya Kannan

Dr. Salim J. Habayeb — Photo: Vino John

CHENNAI, FEB. 24. The World Health Organisation (WHO) Representative to India, Salim J. Habayeb, has indicated an increasing role for the international agency both in India and in the rest of the world.

Acknowledging that the WHO's global portfolio was growing in the `core' programme clusters (developing health systems, communicable and non-communicable diseases, sustainable development and the environment) as well as `special' programmes (including routine immunisation and disease surveillance), Dr. Habayeb said the needs of India were immense. ``Our contribution, along with our bilateral partners, is increasing, and rightly so,'' he told The Hindu .

However, instead of concentrating on specific diseases, the WHO's contribution will be in the form of greater number of partnerships with the Government to provide technical support to health sector reforms, financing and sustainability. The increasing involvement of the WHO also implied the participation of its development partners such as the USAID, the DFID and the CIDA.

The major thrust would be to looking at health in a more comprehensive way, Dr. Habayeb said. Attention would be paid to the many determinants of health.

The WHO would move away from the traditional system of focussing on particular diseases and adopt a public health approach to ageing population, promoting healthy lifestyles and reducing hypertension.

In the context where general health indicators were improving, ``we are concerned about health financing, sustainability, ensuring that the services reach the poor. Clearly, we have to pay more attention to these details now.'' Apart from the regular public health systems, food and drug administration, disease surveillance would now have to be addressed, especially in India, as the country was passing through an epidemiological transition from communicable to non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease and stroke, where the risk factors and morbidity exceeded 50 per cent.

Pat for Centre

Dr. Habayeb commended the Centre for increasing the percentage of Gross Domestic Product to be spent on health and for funding programmes that were for ``public good.'' ``Projects that the Centre funds, including malaria and immunisation, have high social returns. This, along with a high level of commitment among the senior leadership, is a good sign.'' Increasing the health allocation was a step in the right direction, the recent rural health mission was commendable and improving health indicators (borne out by evidence and outcomes) encouraging. However, problems of equity would have to be addressed.

Acknowledging that the response of different State Governments in India was varying, he gave credit to Tamil Nadu for responding better to health issues. The existence of good models in healthcare and drug-supply chain management could be replicated in other States, he said.

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