Association of International Pharmaceutical Manufacturers (AIPM) takes part in the 60th session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe

As a member of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA), AIPM takes part in the 60th session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe, taking place in Moscow, from 13 to 15 September.

“This is the first session of the Regional Committee for the 60 years of existence of the WHO Regional Office for Europe to take place in Russia”, said Tatiana Golikova, Minister of Health and Social Development of Russian Federation, who is offered to chair the session. At the opening of the session she announced that Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin would also be participating.

In his speech, the Prime Minister spoke on the importance of the 60th anniversary session. He stressed that Russia is willing to foster cooperation with WHO and support its efforts in public healthcare. Speaking on the development of the Russian healthcare sector, he noted that healthcare spending has increased fourfold since 2001. Besides, in the course of the national project “Health” infant death rate has reduced by one-third, while average life expectancy has increased by three years.

The session is going to discuss a broad range of issues, including health preservation, healthy lifestyle, impact of the global financial crisis, prevention and treatment of socially dangerous diseases, environmental impact, etc. The delegates will also discuss strategies and plans to tackle current challenges in public healthcare on national and regional levels. According to Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO’s Regional Director for Europe, “increasing the level of regional cooperation and knowledge exchange will help national healthcare systems deal with the medical effect of the financial crisis, reduce the burden of diseases, and cope with healthcare emergencies”.

The 60th WHO session will be attended by over 750 delegates from 53 countries, including over 30 health ministers, as well as 20 observer state representatives. Vladimir Shipkov, AIPM Executive Director: “An event of such scale in Russia is an indicator of a new level of the country’s involvement in international health and medicine supply programs. I am confident that the 60th anniversary session will open to the participating countries new areas of cooperation and international exchange of expertise in healthcare”.