SADC: Health ministers meeting

Southern African Development Community (SADC) health ministers met in Pretoria last week to discuss a number of important health issues in the region. The meeting was chaired by South Africa which is the coordinator of the SADC health sector. A communique said: "Ministers considered issues of common concern for the region in the area of health." Amongst the topics discussed included the adoption of a draft SADC protocol on health which would provide a legal framework within which members could cooperate on health issues. Members also looked ways to curb the spread of and establish a more multi -sectorial approach to HIV/AIDS in the region. Health ministers also discussed steps to develop more interrogated approaches to TB and malaria in SADC. A spokesperson for the South African Ministry of Health told IRIN on Monday that the Y2K bug and its implications for the health care delivery was also discussed. She said: "Each sector has its own Y2K committee and so it was decided to establish one for health, so that the implications for public health in the SADC region could be studied." She added that one of the committee's first tasks would be to develop contingency plans for dealing with the Y2K problem.