Western Provincial health division has successfully held its 2022 provincial health conference last week.
The conference kicked off with a parade by health workers who in their uniforms paraded to the MSG building in front of Gizo wharf for the official opening.
The theme of the conference was Improving Health through Partnerships in Western Province. The focus areas were Leadership, management and governance, Health Care financing, Medical Products, Vaccines and Technologies, Service Delivery, Human Resources for Health and Health Information Systems.
In his welcome remarks, Provincial Health Director, Dr Dickson Boara highlighted the importance of the conference.
“This conference is an opportunity for leaders and stakeholders to understand the health situation in the province and agree on a way forward in improving health. We will also use the conference to begin development of our Annual operation plan for 2023” said Dr Boara.
Delivering the keynote address on behalf of the Permanent Secretary and Senior Executive Management of Ministry of Health and Medical Services was the National Head of Nursing, Mr Michael Larui who congratulated the Provincial Health Director and his organizing team for organizing the conference and for the successful opening ceremony program.
Mr Larui spoke of the government’s policy redirection which are to safeguard the population from the COVID19 pandemic and secondly to keep the domestic economy afloat by maintain economic turnover and thirdly to set the foundations of sustainable development through the establishment of appropriate structural and institutional arrangements.
On COVID 19 response, Mr Larui used this occasion to acknowledge the work of health workers and stakeholders in Western Province for their involvement in the response. COVID19 vaccination rollout is still ongoing. Hence, the effective response and increased vaccination are important for opening of borders, which is important for the economy of the country.
Mr Larui emphasized the importance of implementing the Role Delineation Policy as the vehicle to drive Universal Health coverage. “With the development of the National Health Strategic Plan, strategic objectives are being developed to support the implementation of the Policy. “ Said Mr Larui.
Mr Larui also spoke on the significance of strengthening health care services, public health programs and corporate services to support health service delivery in Solomon Islands.
Finally, Mr Larui referred to the theme of improving health through partnership and acknowledged partners and stakeholders in the health space.
The Provincial Secretary of Western Province also congratulated Western Province Health Division for organizing the 2022 Provincial Health Conference in Gizo.
“I wish to acknowledge the Ministry of Health and Medical Services for successfully leading the response to COVID 19”, said the Provincial Secretary.
The Provincial Secretary reiterated that as the chair of the Provincial Disaster Operation Committee (PDOC), responding to COVID19 under the National Disaster Council Act was a challenge but thanked health workers and support staff of the province for their cooperation to ensure the response results in the control of the outbreak.
