Commonwealth Ministers To Fund Cervical Cancer Screening For Girls

Health Ministers from Commonwealth countries will on Sunday, decide on the funding of cervical cancer screening for girls, the Commonwealth Secretariat has said.

The decision will be taken during their annual meeting in Geneva ahead of the 71st World Health Assembly.

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Tackling preventable diseases and Creating one-stop crisis centres for the victims of gender-based violence will also be addressed at the summit tagged ‘enhancing the global fight against Non-communicable diseases(NCD): raising awareness, mobilising resources and ensuring access to universal health coverage.’

The meeting, which will be chaired by Rosy Akbar, Minister for Health and Medical Services in Fiji, would also have the co-founder of The Elders and universal healthcare champion, Graça Machel and the World Health Organization’s Director-General, Tedros Adhanom in attendance.

The health ministers who are set to take bold steps to improve the lives of Commonwealth citizens will agree on measures to address and overcome debilitating lifestyle diseases and also support procurement of high-cost essential medicines as a targeted approach to financing vaccines and health technologies.

Health adviser at the Commonwealth Secretariat, Mbololwa Mbikusita-Lewanika through a press statement made available to the WHISTLER, said “This year’s meeting comes at a seminal moment for Commonwealth countries. We have a real opportunity to work collaboratively and creatively to address some of the of the biggest health challenges facing citizens from across the 53 member states.

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“Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) kill millions of people across the Commonwealth each year. That is completely unacceptable in 2018. That’s why we’re setting out bold proposals for governments to consider which, if agreed upon, could be game-changers for many Commonwealth countries, especially the Small Island Developing States and low-and-middle-income countries that are disproportionately affected and merit special attention.”

Commonwealth health ministers, in their successive annual meetings, since 2014, have focused on various aspects of united health care (UHC), including ageing and good health in 2015, health security in 2016, sustainable financing and global security in 2017.

The Commonwealth is committed to actively pursue the attainment of health-related Sustainable Development Goals in 2030.

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