Regional health coordination body comes back to life

With the conclusion of its most recent meeting on Tuesday in Libreville, capital of Gabon, an international body for the coordination of efforts to fight disease outbreaks in the central African region has "come back to life, following a period of hibernation due to internal and external factors", according to the government of Republic of Congo. The 33rd session of the Interstate Ministerial Committee of the Organisation de Coordination pour la lutte contre les Endemies en Afrique Centrale (OCEAC), presided by acting president and Congolese Health Minister Alain Moka, agreed to make the fight against Ebola, malaria, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and sleeping sickness their top priority, together with coordinated regional vaccination campaigns. "It is now up to each of us - national and regional actors - together with our partners, to work toward the achievement of our most important objective: the improvement of the health of the people of the central African region," he said during his opening remarks to conference participants. According to the Congolese government communique, a wide variety of administrative, technical and budgetary matters were discussed. Among the decisions taken during the session was a resolution to work closely with another regional body, the Communaute Economique et Monetaire d'Afrique centrale (CEMAC), and to renovate the Centre inter Etats pour l'enseignement de sante publique en Afrique Centrale (CIESPAC), which had been damaged by repeated civil wars in the Congo, by October 2004. With the support of regional governments and international donors, it was also decided that CIESPAC would benefit from an initial budget of 1.73 billion francs CFA (US $3.2 million). Resolutions pertaining to the equitable distribution of posts among member countries were also adopted. Efforts to revive the regional body began with the holding of OCEAC's 32nd meeting in February 2003 in Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of Congo. Created in 1963 by the Cameroonian health minister at the time, Dr S. P. Tchoungui, OCEAC is headquartered in Douala, the economic capital of Cameroon. The Interstate Ministerial Committee comprises health ministers of Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Central African Republic and Chad. These six countries also form the membership of CEMAC.