TEHRAN –Health Minister Bahram Einollahi has called on member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to boost collaboration by paying more attention to health and healthcare issues stressing that human health is the axis of development.

He made the remarks on Wednesday at the 7th meeting of the health ministries of member states of the SCO held in Kazakhstan, IRNA reported.

The minister urged the SCO member states to strengthen their collaboration on community health, mother and child health, antimicrobial resistance, healthy lifestyles, and mental health, as well as preventing and managing cardiovascular diseases and other non-communicable diseases.

Enhancing public health services /coverage, incorporating traditional medicine, fostering health tourism, compiling guidelines and clinical protocols, leveraging innovative technologies in healthcare, expanding the activities of the international medical associations in member states, and bolstering human resources, particularly young professionals, were among other areas suggested by Einollahi.

Adopting preventive measures to reduce the burden of diseases, addressing environmental factors affecting health, including the implementation of water and wastewater safety programs, and embracing new technologies, can lead to a strong collaborative effort to maintain and enhance health in member states of the SCO, he added.

He went on to highlight the importance of ensuring public access to safe drinking water, health services, and proper sewage systems as primary rights and essential human needs. “Today, scarcity of water resources and climate change have posed serious challenges to the sustainable provision of drinking water.”

Supplying the basic needs of people such as medicines and medical tools is one of the factors that result in the success of the member states of the SCO which has to be facilitated using member states' capacities.

“We are ready to share our knowledge, technology, and expertise to enhance health diplomacy among member states,” Einollahi noted.

7th SCO meeting

The seventh meeting of health ministries of member states of the SCO was held from March 12-15.

Environmental health and safety of drinking water were the main topics of the three-day event, IRIB reported.

The health ministers of China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, and the directors of the European Region of the World Health Organization were attending the meeting, as well.

Einollahi was scheduled to deliver a speech and held talks with Kazak Health Minister, Akmaral Alnazarova, on ways to boost ties between the two countries.

In the seventh meeting of the health ministers of the member countries of the SCO, three documents were scheduled to be signed on promoting cooperation on safe drinking water, and sewage management, as well as adopting comprehensive policies and basic measures to improve healthcare in member states for 2025 to 2027.

On March 11, Pedram Pak-Aein, an official with the ministry of health, said “Water safety is a cross-border issue because it contributes to many waterborne diseases,” IRIB reported.

He went on to stress the need for neighboring countries’ cooperation to maintain water safety.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has been able to identify, control, and manage the risk factors that affect water safety, he added.

Attending the meeting in Kazakhstan, the health minister presented Iran’s experiences, achievements, and data in identifying factors that pose a threat to water safety and the way to control them and ensure water safety.

Einollahi also met the health ministers of the member states to discuss ways to enhance cooperation through conducting joint research, exchanging professors and students, exporting medicine and medical equipment, as well as holding scientific and international conferences.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is a permanent intergovernmental international organization established on June 15, 2001, in Shanghai (PRC) by the Republic of Kazakhstan, the People's Republic of China, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan.

The goals of the SCO are to strengthen mutual trust, friendship, and good-neighborliness between the Member States; to encourage effective cooperation between the Member States in such spheres as politics, trade, economy, science and technology, culture, education, energy, transport, tourism, environmental protection.

It also aims to jointly ensure and maintain peace, security, and stability in the region; and promote a new democratic, fair, and rational international political and economic order.

MT/MG