Azerbaijan, WHO discuss bolstering health care sector

By Azernews

By Sabina Mammadli

Strengthening primary health care is a vital and ongoing priority for the WHO in Azerbaijan, the latter's representative in Azerbaijan Khalil Ibrahim said, Azernews reports.

he remarks were made during a meeting at the Ministry of Health with the delegation of the World Health Organization (WHO) Assessment Mission, which is on a working visit to Azerbaijan.

Welcoming the guests, Minister Teymur Musayev stressed that the country attaches great importance to cooperation with the WHO.

Musayev noted that over the past 30 years, significant work has been done in the context of mutual cooperation, and a number of countrywide, regional, and global projects have been successfully implemented.

Recalling the meeting between WHO Regional Director for Europe Hans Henry Kluge and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, the minister expressed confidence that the visit of the head of an authoritative health organization to the country will contribute to the further development of ties.

Further, the minister noted the work carried out by Azerbaijan in the fight against COVID-19, as well as the country's assistance and international initiatives in this context. He stressed that Azerbaijan's global contribution to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic was also highly appreciated by WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus.

Musayev also stressed the activities of the Azerbaijani representative office of the WHO in the work to improve and modernize the national healthcare system.

In turn, Ibrahim noted that over the past five years, important efforts have been made in Azerbaijan to transform the healthcare system to strengthen it and achieve universal health coverage.

Additionally, he stressed that the WHO office in the country supports the government of Azerbaijan in such areas as preparedness and response to COVID-19, infection prevention and control, emergency medical care system, mental health and psycho-social support in emergency situations, and others.

Separately, the WHO Azerbaijan Office said that the healthcare system of Azerbaijan has been subjected to substantial changes to achieve universal medical coverage over the past five years.

The World Health Organization (WHO) provides active support to Azerbaijan in the relevant field, working closely with local partners.

As part of this support, WHO sent an expert mission to Azerbaijan to assess the needs and determine areas of support in primary health care, inpatient care, and training of medical workers. The mission includes nine international experts and eight medical specialists from the WHO Office in Azerbaijan.

Later, the experts are expected to hold meetings at the Azerbaijan Medical University, the Azerbaijan State Advanced Training Institute for Doctors, medical colleges in Baku, and the Main Health Center of Baku. In addition, it's scheduled to visit ten public and private hospitals and primary health care centers in Baku and Shamakhi.

The working visit of the mission will last until September 23.

The WHO Office with the financial support of the EU has launched a three-year project "Support for COVID-19 vaccination" in order to fight the COVID-19 pandemic in Azerbaijan and strengthen immunization programs since June 2021.

This project is an integral part of the ongoing support of the EU and WHO to Azerbaijan.