From August 5-8, 2019, PIHOA Executive Board Members, Secretariat Staff and CDC Partners represented the US-Affiliated Pacific Islands at the 13th Pacific Health Ministers Meeting (PHMM) in French Polynesia! The meeting covered various topics of regional significance such as universal health coverage (covering primary care reforms, health information systems and human resources for health), climate change and health, Pacific health security, noncommunicable diseases, immunization and vaccine preventable diseases, and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH).
The health impacts of a changing climate were a focus of the meeting, with ministers acknowledging the ‘climate crisis’, and endorsing a roadmap to address climate-related threats to safe drinking water, sufficient food, resilient health infrastructure, and secure shelter in the Pacific. Additionally, health security, an essential requirement in one of the most disaster prone regions, was also a key focus, with ministers committing to develop and fund national health security action plans to fill gaps in emergency preparedness and response capacities, and sustain gains already made.
For meeting documents and presentations, click HERE!