Sierra Leone’s Deputy Minister of Health and Sanitation 1, Madam Madina Rahman will on Thursday 17th March, 2016, arrive in Beijing, China’s capital, for the Ministerial Strategic Dialogue on South-South Cooperation for Population and Development and the 28th Executive Committee Meeting of Partners in Population and Development (PPD).
The Ministerial Strategic Dialogue on South-South Cooperation for Population and Development on 18 March 2016 is being organized by National Health and Family Planning Commission of China, United Nations Population Fund and Partners in Population and Development whilst the 28th Executive Committee Meeting of Partners in Population and Development, slated for the 19th March 2016, is being organized by Partners in Population and Development and hosted by the National Health and Family Planning Commission of China.
On the 22-24 March 2016, a technical team from Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Health and Sanitation will also be attending a meeting on China–Africa Development Cooperation for Child Health. The meeting will bring together representatives from the Ministry of Health and Aid Coordinating Agency as well as UNICEF Office in eight African countries, who had recently discussed country needs and priorities, and shared a template for action with UNICEF and China’s health ministry.
It is a follow-up discussion to the Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and the China-Africa Health Ministers meeting in 2015 when a commitment was made to “make resources and solutions available to address major causes of preventable maternal, newborn and child mortality” which continue to be high in Africa.
The meeting also aims to explore how China and African countries could engage to generally promote maternal and child health and newborn health in particular, as a priority area for Chinese aid to African countries, and identify areas of potential support from UNICEF in line with the principles of “mutual respect, equality, keeping promise, mutual benefits and win-win” as defined in China’s White Paper on development aid.
Discussions are also expected to focus on current child health priority needs of each of the countries and how child health interventions can be integrated into the China-Africa cooperation. Participants are also expected to discuss challenges and opportunities to expand cooperation to improve newborn, child and maternal health in Africa.
John Baimba Sesay
Press/Information Attaché
Sierra Leone Embassy-CHINA
