Banjul - Following internal discussions and preparations, the WHO Country Office and the Ministry of Health held a fruitful meeting this morning to discuss and plan for the Pogramme Budget 2022-23.  The meeting was held at Ocean Bay Hotel and was attended by senior management and programme officers from both institutions.

Deputizing for the Honourable Minister of Health, the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry thanked WHO for the invaluable support it is rendering to the health sector, particularly to the control of the current Covid—19 outbreak.

“This partnership meeting is an important exercise geared towards identifying priorities for the health sector to be supported by the WHO for the biennium 2022-23, and to develop a road map for its accomplishment”.  These were the words of the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Health, Mr. Muhammad Lamin Jaiteh during official opening of the half-day meeting

Mr. Jaiteh reminded participants to devote time and attention to this exercise and to identify priority areas that are achievable and impactful.

For his part, Dr. Desta briefed participants on the governance and work of the WHO as well as the role of the Secretariat in supporting Member States achieve global health targets.

 “This is your  meeting, and as such it is our duty as a Secretariat to facilitate today’s discussions on identifying priorities for the health sector for 2022-23 based on what Members States of the WHO, including the Gambia, have agreed to accomplish in the coming years”, remarked Dr. Desta Tiruneh , WHO Representative to the Gambia.

Dr. Tiruneh also hailed the fruitful collaboration between the WHO and Ministry of Health and commended staff of the two institutions for making this possible.

To enhance discussions, the WHO team oriented participants on the whole planning process, the WHO results framework as well as the triple billion agenda with emphasis on the outcomes, outputs and technical products for each of the three pillars. This was followed by extensive discussions and context setting for the realization of global health targets.

At the end of the meeting, a road map was developed to facilitate discussions with national counterparts and expedite timely completion of the workplan.