The Minister of Public Health in the caretaker government, Firas Al-Abyad, held a series of meetings, on the sidelines of his participation in New York in the United Nations General Assembly meeting regarding epidemic prevention and preparedness.
He had a meeting with his Italian counterpart, Orazio Shillaci, to discuss how to activate joint health projects through a committee responsible for follow-up and implementation, “especially since the Lebanese-Italian cooperation has yielded pivotal projects, including the opening of new departments in Baabda Governmental Hospital.”
Minister White thanked his Italian counterpart for his interest in Lebanon, stressing that “Italian support supports the goal of the Ministry of Public Health to reach comprehensive health coverage.”
The Italian Minister praised “the serious efforts made by the Ministry of Public Health amid Lebanon’s difficult circumstances,” extending an invitation to the White Minister to visit Italy and approve more health development projects.
Minister Al-Abyad also discussed with Thabani Manhosa, Executive Director of the Global Vaccine Alliance (GAVI), the approved vaccine calendar in Lebanon and ways to secure it for free and support it with new vaccines.
Al-Abyad pointed out that “the wave of leakage of essential vaccines that Lebanon suffered from during the Corona pandemic and the cholera outbreak has begun to decline.”
He announced, “The Ministry recorded an acceptable increase in the percentage of those vaccinated.”
He pointed out that “campaigns were organized with the Lebanese Red Cross to go to local communities and vaccinate them instead of waiting for them to come to health centers.”
Manhoza praised, “the transparency shown by the Ministry of Public Health regarding the issue of vaccines, especially in the phase of distributing the Corona and cholera vaccines.”
In a meeting with the Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Amy Pope, Minister Al-Abyad discussed the efforts made by Lebanon, especially its health system, to provide medical and health services to its citizens as well as to the displaced, refugees and foreign workers residing on its soil.
Al-Abyad stressed, “Lebanon has proven that it does not discriminate at all in providing health and medical services between a citizen, resident, or foreign worker, and the most eloquent evidence of this is the vaccination campaigns to confront Corona and cholera.”
He added, “The support that the health system needs aims to ensure its continuity and not expose it to the risk of collapse.”
It was agreed to continue cooperation in a number of the organization’s programmes, most notably communication with communities and activating telemedicine, in line with the efforts of Minister Al-Abyad to expand the contribution of expatriates in the countries of spread to the Lebanese health system. International Organization for Migration officials have also expressed interest in approving health programs that anticipate additional waves of migration that are likely to be caused by global warming and the dangerous climate extremes witnessed, so that health programs are qualified to maintain an advanced level of services no matter how heavy the burdens are.
2023-09-22 11:56:25
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