Pakistani Minister Calls for Expansion of Ties with Iran Health Sector

Zafar Mirza, Pakistan’s Minister of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination, said expansion of Iran-Pakistan health and medicinal partnerships can help reduce infectious and non-contagious diseases in the region.

He made the comments at a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Saeed Namaki at Tehran’s Azadi Hotel on Monday evening. Zafar Mirza welcomed Iran’s hospitality at the 66th meeting of the World Health Organisation’s Regional Committee for the Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO).

“With the expansion of cooperation between the two countries, we can use Iran’s apt capacities in various fields of education and health care,” he noted, stressing it is very important that Iran has taken very positive steps in the areas of health and public health services, but the current problem in Iran and many other countries is non-contagious diseases, and we are seeking a disease-free region in collaboration with Iran.

In the end, he raised hope that Iranian health officials would travel to Pakistan in the near future to see improvements in the country’s health sector, and called for continuation of good relations between the two countries.

Health ministers and high-level representatives of the 22 countries and territories of the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region, partner organisations and civil society, have taken part in the Sixty-sixth Session of the WHO Regional Committee for the Eastern Mediterranean, in Tehran that runs through 17 October.

The 4-day programme will also include progress reports on: eradication of poliomyelitis; health, environment and climate change; civil registration and vital statistics systems; implementation of the Eastern Mediterranean vaccine action plan and regional malaria action plan; mental health care; implementation of the regional framework on cancer prevention and control; and implementation of the global action plan on antimicrobial resistance.