ThaiHealth set to organise Tambon-level health promotion campaigns
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has stepped forward with its campaign to promote good health in the Southeast Asian region, praising Thailand’s ThaiHealth as example of a health promotion organisation with good financial and budget management by emphasising prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), controlling risk factors of alcohol, cigarette, and food, while creating physical exercises in a bid to prevent the cause of 7.9 million deaths each year.
Dr Hans Troedsson, Assistant Director-General for General Management of the WHO Headquarters, said that ThaiHealth and the WHO came to an agreement on the cooperation to host Tambon-level health promotion campaigns, during the signing ceremony of the agreement which was set in parallel with the 68th WHO Regional Committee (WHO-RC) for Southeast Asia in Dili on September the 9th, 2015. The WHO saw ThaiHealth’s potential as the leader of health promotion in international level, and the most rewarding and effective measure regarding public health management. Expressing pleasure in this new cooperation, the WHO praised ThaiHealth for its role as a knowledge-sharing organisation, for its experiences, and for its world renowned networks of partners.
“ThaiHealth is the leading organisation in health promotion not only in Thailand but in the international level. This organisation has shown to the world that the sustainable and innovative financial mechanism can really make a difference. The obvious examples are the tobacco and alcohol consumption control, which can be applied not only in well-to-do countries, but also in middle-tier and low-tier countries. This new cooperation will focus on the responses to the danger of alcoholic beverages, the promotion of physical exercises, and the financial policy in terms of health promotion,” said Dr Troedsson.
Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO Regional Director for Southeast Asia, meanwhile, said that the mortality rate caused by the NCDs accounted to 7.9 million or 62% of all the deaths recorded in a year. The sad thing is, these diseases are on the course to harm the world population of young age despite the fact that these diseases are preventable. The four causes of the death from NCDs are rooted from smoking, drinking alcoholic drinks, eating unhealthy food, and lacking physical exercises. ThaiHealth is the leader of this region in terms of eradication of risk factors for NCDs and is an example on the international level for its mechanism of health promotion. Its revenue from earmarked tax earned from unhealthy businesses like cigarette and alcohol. This type of financial mechanism is praised by the world community for its sustainability. From now on, ThaiHealth is going to lay a foundation of health promotion system and the eradication of NCDs for WHO member countries in the Southeast Asian region.
On the Thai side, Dr Krisada Ruangareerat, Manager of ThaiHealth, said that the organisation had signed a total of two cooperation agreements. The first was the cooperation agreement with the WHO Headquarters in driving forward the health promotion effort on the international level in terms of response to the danger posed by alcoholic beverages in developing countries, promotion of physical exercises, and studies in financial policies for the promotion of health. The latter was the cooperation with the WHO Southeast Asia in strengthening the health promotion in a bid to minimise risk factors of NCDs in 11 countries of Southeast Asian region, with a plan to complete the project within the span of 2015-2017. Thaihealth was planning to push forward the creation of health promotion projects in member countries, recruiting new allies and health promotion leaders, creating innovative policy of health promotion on the international level, so that the Thai personnel in health promotion will have wider opportunity to improve their potential.
“On behalf of ThaiHealth, I am delighted to offer our support for the betterment of the sustainable health promotion, including the sharing of knowledge in the management of NCD risk factors for member countries. With 14 years of experience in the field of expertise in Thailand, ThaiHealth is confident that the new cooperations will bring about strengthened development effort in health promotion, especially the impacts of NCDs in both the national, regional, and international levels,” said ThaiHealth Manager.
Source: สำนักข่าวสร้างสุข
