Universal Access to RH Needed
in Health Crisis Management

On 24th and 25th November, the 3rd Meeting of Public Health Associations in Asia was held in Tokyo, with around 60 doctors and other health care professionals from seven countries, including Japan, attending, along with Japanese NGOs, JOICFP, and JICA. Keynote speakers included those from WHO.

The theme of the meeting was Health Crisis Management and Public Health, and focused on preparedness, prevention and minimization of damage caused by epidemic diseases, contamination of drinking water, natural disasters, terrorism, etc.

Addressing the meeting, Ryoichi Suzuki, Deputy Executive Director, JOICFP, said that even in times of emergency such as the Asian tsunami of 2004, universal access to reproductive health (RH) was important. Daily public health programs, including those for RH, human resource development, and networks of care providers all could make a great contribution in times of crisis, he said.

Suzuki stressed that well-supported, active and vital networks of health care professionals were very useful in times of crisis as they were best able to respond to the actual needs on the ground at the grassroots level.