RI to host international development summit
Elly Burhaini Faizal, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | World | Fri, August 31 2012, 5:52 PM
Indonesia will host the Asia Pacific Development Summit 2012, organized on the theme “Public-Private Partnerships to Close Regional Health MDG (Millennium Development Goal) Gaps”, to be held in Jakarta Sept. 3—5.
The Health Ministry’s director for maternal health, Gita Maya Koemara Sakti, said Friday that the conference aimed at promoting the close partnerships between public and private sectors needed for an integrated strategy to improve public health, in particular child and maternal health, and to accelerate progress towards achieving the MDGs in 2015.
“Through this conference, we aim to speed progress toward achieving the MDGs, particularly on child and maternal health targets,” she told a press briefing at the Health Ministry office today.
The Health Ministry will play a leading role in organizing the conference, which will be held in cooperation with the Office of Special Envoy
on MDGs to the President of the Republic of Indonesia, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the ASEAN Foundation.
“We also hope to promote more active implementations of integrated partnerships between public and private sectors among ASEAN member countries,” Gita said.
Representatives of public and private sectors from six ASEAN member countries – Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam – and several countries outside the region, including China, India and the United States will be in attendance.
Several issues will be discussed during the conference, such as public-private collaborative approaches in tackling infectious diseases, counterfeit drug distribution, and healthcare service gaps; regional responses to infectious diseases; the role of Asia in improving global health priorities; strategies to improve access to healthcare services; and a case study on massive immunization programs.
World Health Organization (WHO) director general Margaret Chan, ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan and Health Minister Nafsiah Mboi are among speakers confirmed for the 2012 APDS. (swd)
