Azerbaijan expanding cooperation with WHO

Health Minister Teymur Musayev has said that Azerbaijan attaches great importance expanding relations with the World Health Organisation’s (WHO).

He made the remarks at a meeting between representatives of the Azerbaijani Health Ministry and the delegation of the WHO Mission has been held at the ministry, Caliber.Az.

The delegation is on a two-day working visit to Azerbaijan to introduce the Health Monitoring System and assess the monitoring of health care expenditures, the ministry said.

WHO Representative and Head of Country Office, Azerbaijan Hande Harmanci attended the meeting.

In his speech, Azerbaijani health Minister Teymur Musayev stressed that Azerbaijan attaches great importance to cooperation with the WHO.

The minister noted that Azerbaijan has been closely cooperating with the authoritative healthcare organisation since 1992, and this cooperation is developing steadily.

Thus, significant work has been carried out in terms of mutual cooperation, a number of projects have been successfully implemented at the regional and global levels over the past 30 years.

In his speech, the minister stressed that health care and the economy are connected.

“At the same time, a strong economy is required to generate the financial resources necessary for the development of the healthcare system,” Musayev added.

He noted that the Health Monitoring System was developed by the World Health Organisation in collaboration with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the World Bank, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and other international development organisations, and allows governments to systematically track and evaluate health care financing flows.

“The Ministry of Health is ready to render any possible assistance for the implementation of this programme in Azerbaijan,” Musayev said.

While expressing gratitude for the warm reception, representative of the Assessment Mission David Gzirishvili noted the implementation of important reforms in the healthcare sector in Azerbaijan.

He said that one of the Organisation's priorities is to render technical support to countries to implement the Health Monitoring System. Thus, WHO plays a leading role in global health expenditure tracking and international comparison data, and renders technical support to countries to assess the situation in the country, conduct initial assessments, build local capacity and ensure the continuity of the Health Monitoring System.

Besides its main function, the Health Monitoring System is used as primary data for monitoring and evaluating the performance of the health system.

Moreover, tracking health care expenditures based on the Health Monitoring System envisages more comprehensive information on the use of health services than traditional fiscal analysis.