Health Minister Popi Kanari on Tuesday took part in a World Health Organisation (WTO) conference in Larnaca aimed at finding ways to improve the healthcare conditions for migrants and refugees.

The conference was attended by delegates from neighbouring regions of Europe, Africa, and the Eastern Mediterranean.

While addressing the audience, Kanari said that the WHO regional office for Europe, headquartered in Larnaca and led by regional director Hans Kluge, is developing a new action plan aimed at specifically at migrants and refugees.

“We are very proud that this consultation is taking place here in Larnaca,” she said.

“The conference will be a milestone in defining regional work on health and migration going forward and we fully support these joint efforts in this field.”

Kanari also added that the ongoing WHO efforts, highlighted during the conference, represent an opportunity to reflect on lessons learnt from previous action plans and challenging situations.

“In the spirit of leaving no one behind, the current action plan, valid from 2023 until 2030, aims to contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals 2030,” she said.

According to Kanari, the action plan addresses several strategic priorities in coherence with the vision.

“Firstly, we want to ensure that refugees and migrants benefit from universal health coverage.

“Secondly, we need to implement inclusive emergency and disaster risk reduction policies, to then develop inclusive plans that promote human rights, social inclusion, health, and wellbeing, while strengthening migration and health governance.

“The participation of so many countries demonstrates the importance for this region of developing a concerted action plan to deal with the refugee and migration crisis and this can only be tackled through regional and global cooperation,” the Health Minister said.

Kanari added that Cyprus fully endorses the development of the action plan and recognises that health is a fundamental human right and a key driver of peace, solidarity, inclusion, and stability.

On behalf of the WHO, Ιrshad Ali Shail, in charge of the WHO office in Cyprus, said that Tuesday’s conference represents a first of its kind.

“Global issues require global solutions – therefore, partnership and collaboration are the way forward. This is something that the Covid-19 also emphasised very strongly.

“Cyprus is a country that is strategically and geopolitically positioned at the junction of East and West and has a strong expertise on the issue. We want Cyprus to play that role of health and health security without borders,” he said.

Concluding, he added that immigration is a global issue that necessitates the commitment of the WHO and of all countries in the world, in order not to leave anyone behind.