Regional health conference kicks off

A four-day regional conference to discuss ways of boosting cooperation in Asia to curb infectious diseases in the region started in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Monday. The conference, entitled: "Health for All and Health by All: Communicable Diseases Recognise No Borders”, is set to mainly focus on the six diseases, including cholera, HIV/AIDS, malaria, polio and tuberculosis (TB), still posing a health threat in the region. “Delegates from the ministries of health of nine countries are taking part in the conference and will mainly discuss the need for mutual cooperation in preventing the spread of communicable diseases in the region,” Mohammad Din Maarij, a technical adviser to the Ministry of Public Health, said in Kabul. Delegates from Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are among the participants of the conference supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Health Minister Said Mohammad Amin Fatimi said that the conference, the first of its kind held in Kabul, would be the first of many opportunities to exchange views and experiences on health issues affecting the countries in the region. “Preservation of the health of our respective nations must be a regional effort for these diseases respect no national boundaries, spare no ethnic or racial group and exempt no political system,” Fatimi noted. “Only through cooperation and collaboration can we combat infectious diseases and improve the health of our nations,” he added. Afghan President Hamid Karzai is expected to address the conference on Wednesday and will stress the threat of contagious diseases to the region's economic growth and emphasise the benefit of collective action in the face of limited resources, according to officials at the health ministry. War-battered Afghanistan has one of worst health indicators in the world and is largely dependent on international assistance for tackling various health problems. Many essential health services in the country were destroyed during some three decades of brutal civil war and internal strife. According to WHO estimates, approximately 70,000 new TB cases occur annually in Afghanistan and an estimated 20,000 people in the country die from the disease every year. Two-thirds of Afghanistan’s reported TB cases are amongst women. The Central Asian state is one of just six countries in the world where polio remains endemic - the remaining five are Nigeria, India, Niger, Somali and Pakistan.