World Health Organization
منظمة الصحة العالمية
Organisation mondiale de la Santé

Sudan stands out as global leader in the adoption of Health-in-All-Policies approach

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Public Health Institute in SudanPublic Health Institute in Sudan21 June 2018 – The World Health Organization, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health and Public Health Institute in Khartoum, Sudan, held an intersectoral training workshop from 29 to 31 May 2018 on the Health-in-All-Policies (HiAP) approach. The workshop was the first to be rolled out in Sudan. It provided 59 senior government ministry officials and key stakeholders from civil society organizations with the knowledge and basic skills on applying HiAP focusing on social determinants of health through whole-of-government and society approaches. This training is one of the milestones in implementing Sudan's HiAP framework strategies.

Dr Maha El Adawy, the training facilitator and Director of Health Protection and Promotion at the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, commended Sudan for their efforts, “I would like to congratulate Sudan for taking the lead at the regional level in adopting the HiAP approach.” The HiAP approach was first introduced in 2013 by WHO’s Eighth Global Conference on Health Promotion which called for the accountability of policy-makers, at all levels of government, to systematically take into account the health implications of public policy decisions. “The HiAP approach is core in implementing primary health care to achieve universal health care coverage, addressing health needs, and social determinants of health,” says Dr Naeema Al Gasseer, WHO Representative for Sudan.

Dr Naeema Al Gasseer continued, “WHO will actively support Sudan’s efforts in their HiAP journey, endorsed by His Excellency President of Sudan H.E. Omar El Bashir, towards ensuring the highest attainable health for all people and their health security accountably.”

In 2017, Sudan initiated a rapid countrywide assessment to inform its strategic roadmap of the HiAP framework, as well as contribute to the establishment of the Global Network of HiAPs (GNHiAP), which is currently chaired by H.E. Mr Bahar Idris of the Federal Ministry of Health.

This training workshop was launched to support Sudan in “maintaining its political commitment, building its national capacities in leadership and in effective negotiation for health,” explained Dr Imadeldin A. Ismail, WHO Sudan’s Senior Technical Officer for Department of Health Systems.

A workshop participant working for a nongovernmental organization said, “Representatives from each state should work and closely collaborate with their federal ministries guided by the principles of the 2005 Constitution which stated that health services were a shared responsibility for all.”