Victoria, Seychelles, 8th February 2018 - The Minister of Health (MoH) and the acting World Health Organisation (WHO) Liaison Officer has signed the biennial workplan for the period 2018-2019 at a media event at the Seychelles Hospital on Wednesday 7th February 2018. On behalf of the Seychelles government, Minister Jean-Paul Adam handed over the signed plan to Dr. Teniin Gakuruh of the WHO Seychelles. This took place in the presence of Senior Ministry of Health officials and the media.

Every two years WHO makes available to the government of Seychelles funding which will support the overall health development agenda of the country. The new biennial workplan agreement between the government and Seychelles is a framework worth US$739,600 and is elaborated based on the priorities identified by the Ministry of Health.
 
Addressing the officials at the signing ceremony, the acting WHO Liaison Officer Dr. Gakuruh said that the MoH-WHO framework is built around achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and focused on achieving results on key performance indicators in line with the Transformation Agenda of the Regional Director. She also said that the funds provided in the work plan are only part of the support expected from WHO over the next 2 years;

“What is stated in the workplan is just part of WHO support. A lot more is available outside of the allocated funds, in the form of technical support, capacity building both in–country, within the region and even at headquarters’ level and in implementing other activities including various research.”

On his part the Minister of Health Honorable Adam acknowledged the close collaboration between WHO and Seychelles and expressed his immense appreciation to WHO for being the foremost partner in supporting the implementation of its national health goals.
 
“This workplan gives us the right support so that the country can be strategic in the implementation of its National Health Strategic Plan and in addressing priority areas including communicable diseases, non-communicable diseases, reinforcement of the country’s public health capacities and health system in general”.

Minister Adam thanked WHO for the continuous support over a number of biennial plans, highlighted as example the effective technical role that the WHO cooperation played setting up the rapid response which successfully dealt with the recent threat of Plague late last year.

The Seychelles-WHO workplan is an ambitious plan which supports key health developments on the country’s agenda. It provides a clear framework for WHO's technical cooperation with Seychelles for the next two years. The previous biennial plan ended in December 2017.