BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 19. A meeting was held at the Ministry of Health with the delegation of the World Health Organization (WHO) Assessment Mission, which is on a working visit to Azerbaijan, Trend reports via the ministry.
Welcoming the guests, Minister Teymur Musayev stressed that the country attaches great importance to cooperation with the WHO.
According to Musayev, over the past 30 years, significant work has been done in the context of mutual cooperation, a number of countrywide, regional and global projects have been successfully implemented.
Reminding the meeting of the WHO Regional Director for Europe Hans Henry Kluge with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and representatives of the Ministry of Health during his official visit to Azerbaijan, 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.
In his speech, 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 activity of the Azerbaijani representative office of the WHO in the work to improve and modernize national healthcare.
Expressing gratitude for the warm welcome, the WHO representative in Azerbaijan Khalil Ibrahim noted that over the past five years, important efforts have been made in Azerbaijan to transform the healthcare system in order to strengthen it and achieve universal health coverage.
Ibrahim stressed that strengthening primary health care (PHC) is a vital and ongoing priority for the WHO in Azerbaijan.
Besides, he noted 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.
The objectives of the WHO Assessment Mission are to analyze the context and resources of the various structures and functions of the health system in order to ensure successful planning of WHO support in the field of health workforce development, primary health care, hospital care and nursing care in Azerbaijan.
At the same time, the mission’s goals include contribution to the vision of the future organization of primary health care in Azerbaijan through recommendations for the ongoing PHC demonstration project; planning and defining WHO support and technical assistance in the area of health workforce development through meetings in medical and nursing schools; assessing the provision of hospital services by visiting public and private hospitals, and others.
The working visit of the mission will last until September 23.
