Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong U said on Monday she believed that Macau’s community healthcare system can become a reference for promoting universal health coverage all over the world, according to a statement by the Secretariat for Social Affairs and Culture yesterday.
Ao Ieong made the remarks on the sidelines of the 77th World Health Organisation’s (WHO) World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva, Switzerland, on Monday. As a member of the Chinese delegation, Ao Ieong attended the meeting accompanied by several staff members of her portfolio such Health Bureau (SSM) Director Alvis Lo Iek Long and SSM Communicable Disease Prevention and Control Division Chief Leong Iek Hou
Ao Ieong said she agreed that integrated medical services play an important role in universal health coverage, adding that Macau has set up a community health care network comprising all districts in the city, covering the whole life cycle and benefiting all residents.
During the meeting, according to the statement, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus pointed out that at least 140 countries in the world recognise the right to health care in their Constitutions, but in many regions the right to health care is often still not realised or threatened, and about half of the world’s population is not fully covered by basic medical services, and about two billion people face financial difficulties due to out-of-pocket medical expenses.
Tedros stressed that the world will benefit from promoting and protecting health, that more global health cooperation is in the interest of all countries, and that the World Health Organisation is committed to achieving the highest possible level of health care for all people, the statement said.
With the theme of “All for Health, Health for All”, this year’s meeting will run through Saturday, according to a WHO statement yesterday, adding that member states will be invited to approve WHO’s new strategy for 2025–2028, the 14th General Programme of Work (GPW14), as well as other agendas related to infectious and non-infectious diseases, mental health, women’s health and World Health Organisation reform.
The WHO delegation of the People’s Republic of China to the annual WHA represents the whole nation, i.e., the Chinese mainland, the Taiwan regions and the Hong Kong and Macau special administrative regions.
World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus delivers his speech at the opening session of the 77th WHO World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva, Switzerland, on Monday.
