Afghanistan Times
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Kabul: For the last three days, participants from seven Eastern Mediterranean countries attended the Regional Workshop to Accelerate the Implementation of the Integration Goal of the Polio Endgame Strategy. The workshop was hosted by GHD|EMPHNET in collaboration with US CDC, WHO, UNICEF, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Gavi.
Participants were from Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. The workshop focused on exchanging experiences and lessons learned about building on polio capacities to address other countries’ public health priorities.
Experts from the global and regional level provided updates on new strategies related to polio and immunization and the new initiative and insights on building integrated sustainable systems learning from the challenging COVID19 experience.
The workshop focused on sharing experiences and best practices in different priority areas and finding potential options for mobilizing the additional resources necessary to support the implementation of the prepared action plans.
GHD|EMPHNET Public Health Programs Director Dr. Magid Al Gunaid said “Integration is a key step to reform health systems to achieve more equitable delivery of health services. It is crucial to understand what, whether, when, and how to integrate different public health programs into the Primary Health Care and the broader health system. Seizing opportunities to increase the reach priority services, consolidate fragmentation, eliminate duplication and overlapping, and bolstering the system’s ability would all serve in responding to population health needs in a more holistic approach.”
At the end of the workshop, participants drafted specific priority activities to accelerate polio synergy/integration within their national health system and to identify the support needed.
