Health ministry set pathway to achieve SDGs

BY LYNTON AARON FILIA

MHMS Permanent Secretary Dr Dalipanda

THE Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015 comprises 17 goals that will guide development efforts for the next 15 years.

The SDGs include 169 targets over 200 global indicators with 24 targets under health specific goals (SDG3) and more than 20 targets related to health under other goals.

Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is a separate target in the SDGs as well as the platform that brings together programmes and actions for health and development.

Adhering to the guiding principle of UHC, the Ministry of Health and Medical Services is pursuing integrated care with the goal of improving range and quality of services available to population in line with concept of primary health care and overall vision of “Health for All”.

MHMS Permanent Secretary Dr Dalipanda said the integrated services deliver packages have become a key tool to drive changes made necessary by Solomon Islands Government’s adoption of the Role Delineation Policy.

He said the definition of service roles will enable equitable allocation of resources and adequate support and supervision of lower levels of care.

The packages of services have become a key tool in operationalisation of a change in Solomon Islands’ primary healthcare policy and such experience has provided valuable lessons to learn for integrated care initiatives in similar settings such as Solomon Islands, Dalipanda adds.

Meanwhile, the National Health Strategy Plan 2016-2020 is focused on four key areas to improve service provision for all people of Solomon Islands and support, in particular those most vulnerable and hard to reach.

The enabling driver in the strategy is the Role Delineation Policy (RDP); ensuring that the right services and resources are at the right level of healthcare provision for the population.

With that Dalipanda said this year is a year of action which set them to actualise the RDP to meet the needs of Solomon Islands’ people.

The reform of health sets platform for the RDP; setting standards for what services and resources to be used at different levels of healthcare and services, he said.

“This is about us as an organisation reforming, reconfiguring, and changing how we can practice or do things in the best possible way that enables us to improve the well-being and health of all,” Dalipanda said.

With the implementation of the RDP, Dalipanda said it is a major undertaking which requires huge commitment of MHMS and development partners.

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