TEHRAN –The 29th Technical Meeting of the G5 Forum was held in Tehran today with the theme of boosting health tourism among member states.
G5 member states including Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Iran, Uzbekistan (as an observer member), and the World Health Organization have attended the meeting.
“During the administration of the late President Ebrahim Raisi, the activities of the group intensified to strengthen regional cooperation with 9 meetings held so far covering various topics such as communicable and non-communicable diseases, cross-border cooperation, blood transfusion, training health managers, women, and family health,” Health ministry website quoted the deputy health minister, Mohammad Hossein Niknam, as saying.
“G5 main objectives include enhancing cross-border cooperation; exchanging specialists and expertise; supporting the organization and reconstruction of the health system; facilitating the participation of specialists and researchers in scientific conferences; cooperating in times of crisis,” Niknam highlighted.
"Fortunately, over the past three years, member states have formed favorable cooperation to ensure the health of pilgrims during Arbaeen,” he added.
West Asia is a disaster-prone region so regional cooperation and successful experience exchange are critical in addressing disasters, he stressed.
The official went on to say that Tajikistan joined G5 last year, and Uzbekistan, which is a member of the European Regional Office of the WHO, will soon join the group; it will pave the way for interregional cooperation.
The 30th meeting of the G5 Forum will be held in Tehran in November with the theme of ‘strengthening health tourism’ among the member states of G5 and with the presence of the health ministers of these countries.
Moreover, the theme of the 31st G5 Forum, as suggested by the WHO regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean, will be control and reduction of drug use.
Attending the meeting, Jaffar Hussain, the representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Iran, underscored the significant role of the G5 in fostering regional cooperation and ensuring the health of people in member countries.
“Iran has a strong health care system, numerous hospitals and Medical Science universities with high capacities as well as advanced medical equipment,” the official said.
“In general, the integration of medical education into health services; nationwide health and treatment network system, as well as the government's efforts to develop services and infrastructure, are among the most important factors that have enhanced the country’s progress in the health sector despite sanctions,” Hussain stressed.
Announcing WHO’s readiness to further health services in G5 member countries, Hussain highlighted "We have recently observed the launch of more than 800 medical projects and hospitals are equipped with 1,800 new beds throughout the country including deprived and border areas in an effort to improve public access to healthcare services, which is a great measure taken,” Hussain further noted.
G5 Forum
Iran established G5 in 2005 to promote subregional cooperation in health among the group of four countries –Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan – plus the World Health Organization as the fifth member of the group to provide technical support in improving this collaboration.
Several activities have already been taken under this initiative, with the Islamic Republic of Iran taking responsibility for serving as its secretariat.
The first subregional workshop for G5 countries on health system strengthening was hosted by the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination of Pakistan on November 19–20, 2013 in Islamabad, Pakistan.
Exchanging experiences on issues related to moving towards universal health coverage; developing national roadmaps and strategies for improving service delivery, population coverage, and financial risk protection; assisting each other in health workforce capacity development activities, health system research, national health accounts, and policy development; developing measurable indicators related to three dimensions of universal health coverage were among the goals of this two-day meeting.
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