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RHD Action at the WHO Regional Committee Meetings

07 November 2016
Logo of the World Health Organization
United States Mission Geneva

In recent months, regional RHD experts and representatives from the World Heart Federation – a founding member of RHD Action – participated in the WHO Regional Committee Meetings. Taking place annually from August-October, these meetings are held to set policy and to approve budgets and programmes of work for each of the 6 WHO regions. Here we bring you a brief summary of our activities during these meetings.

RHD Action Participation
The regional meetings gather important health actors and decision-makers or one region together at a time, and therefore offer a valuable opportunity for the WHF to meet our peers in global health and development.

By participating in the WHO Regional Meetings RHD Action was able to to:

  • Urge Ministers of Health to support emerging national, regional and global policy and research efforts on rheumatic heart disease (RHD)
  • Make statements during Agenda Items relevant to RHD Action’s work and influence the course of discussions
  • Receive updates from endemic Member States (countries) on the progress of RHD prevention and control

Representatives at the Regional Meetings
RHD Action was represented at the regional meetings by members of the World Heart Federation (WHF) Advocacy team and by RHD experts from the WHO regions. 

The 6 Regional Committee Meetings took place in: 

Regional Meeting Agendas 
The diverse nature of the health challenges facing different regions was reflected in their agendas: EURO and EMRO Member States discussed the pressing issue of migrant health and health care in humanitarian settings, while an update on the Zika virus was provided during the PAHO regional meeting.

This divergence in regional agendas was especially true with respect to the attention given to non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The agenda for SEARO placed a strong focus on the importance of addressing  NCDs and their risk factors, with discussions on physical activity, malnutrition and a progress report on the ‘Regional Action Plan and targets for prevention and control of NCDs (2013-2020)’. In contrast, NCDs were conspicuously absent from the agendas for WPRO and AFRO. 

RHD Action Statements
RHD Action submitted and delivered statements on rheumatic heart disease at four of the regional meetings (AFRO, EMRO, SEARO, WPRO). These statements addressed a range of health topics, including maternal and child health, healthy newborn infants, essential medicines and the development of a package of services for universal health coverage.

RHD Action representatives received especially positive responses from its statements on RHD at the SEARO, EMRO and WPRO regional meetings. Both the SEARO and WPRO Secretariats acknowledged the importance of RHD, the latter stating the disease was: “a concern and issue made by Member States, showing the fine line between communicable disease and NCDs, and the importance of taking a life-course approach in our public health programmes.”

Similarly, EMRO Regional Director Ala Alwan suggested that an assessment of the burden of RHD in the Region was needed, and noted the possibility to include rheumatic heart disease in a basic package of interventions on noncommunicable diseases.

Stay up to date
For more information on RHD Action’s participation in regional and global health meetings, you can follow us on Twitter, subscribe to our mailing list RHD Beat, and explore our website.

For more information:
RHD Action at the 66th WHO African Regional Committee Meeting
RHD Action attends the 63rd WHO Regional Committee Meeting for the Eastern Mediterranean Region
RHD Action at the 2016 WHO Regional Committee Meeting for the Western Pacific Region