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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Belgrade to host 57th session of WHO regional committee

Belgrade, 6 September 2007

Special advisor to the Serbian Minister of Health Snezana Simic said today that from September 17 to 20 the 57th session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe will be held in Belgrade.

At a working breakfast with journalists, Simic specified that more than 300 delegates from 53 member countries will participate in the event, adding that representatives of the Serbian Health Ministry will present achievements and limitations in the development and reforms of the Serbian health system at the gathering.

According to Simic, three basic subjects of this session will be millennium goals in development, connecting health with these goals, and defining what is important and must be done within this framework.

She recalled that the meeting held last year was dedicated to personnel in the health system, while this year one of the themes will be development of personnel in health systems of developed countries.

Simic pointed to the fact that the majority of European countries have a lack of medical personnel, especially medical nurses, and within this framework immigration of medical personnel will also be discussed.

According to Simic, Serbia and countries of south east Europe are fighting with surplus medical personnel, and it is possible that highly qualified experts will leave and the country will be confronted with the problem of having people who are either waiting to get work for a long time or were not able to go to Europe, as is the case in Lithuania and Estonia.

She said that within the framework of the health system, an important subject will be the resolution on obesity since this problem is gradually developing in Serbia, especially among children who are increasingly eating more bad food and do not take care of nutrition.

Several technical briefings will also be held during the session of the WHO regional committee. These will concern the rights of patients and the international protocol on water will also be discussed, said Simic. She added that the Health Ministry will have a stall where it will present important publications in Serbian and English which are related to the strategies and programmes of the WHO.

According to Simic, from September 10, sanitary inspections of tobacco consumption will be held, so that Serbia shows itself in a good light, considering the fact that it recently received the WHO award for action against smoking.

Within the framework of the WHO regional meeting, WHO Director General Margaret Chan will present the five year plan of this organisation in Serbian parliament.

Representatives of the Council of Europe, World Bank, International Investment Bank and a number of NGOs will visit Belgrade. They will have an opportunity to get acquainted with reforms in health and the positive results which Serbia achieved in the period from 2000 to 2006.