The East Central and Southern Africa Health Community (ECSA-HC) organized the 73rd Health Ministers Conference (20-21st June 2024) and 50th Anniversary Commemoration (19th June 2024) which was preceded by the 14th Best Practices Forum (16th-17th June 2024) and the Directors and 30th Directors Joint Consultative Committee (18th June 2024). The main theme of the conference was ‘’50 years of leadership and excellence in regional health collaboration’’. The event was held at Grand Melia Hotel, Arusha, Tanzania. The East, Central and Southern African Health Community (ECSA-HC) is an inter-governmental organization that fosters and promotes regional cooperation in health. Member states of the ECSA Health Community are Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Eswatini, United Republic of Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The guest of honor for the 50th Golden Jubilee Cerebration was the Vice President of the United Republic of Tanzania, Hon. Dr. Philip Isidory Mpango (sitting in the middle in the picture above, surrounded by Honourable Ministers of Health and Heads of Delegation from ECSA HC member states and the Director General of ECSA-HC, Prof. Yoswa Dambisya).
The conference provided a unique opportunity for representatives from 9 ECSA HC member states, development partners, research and training institutions, civil society organizations and other professionals to reflect on the progress made for the past 50 years and strategize on how to strengthen collaboration and tackle health challenges in the region subsequently. AfECN participated in the event and presented on the experiences and lessons from 9 ECSA-HC members on scaling up implementation of Nurturing Care Framework (NCF). The work has been coordinated through the Responsive Caregiving Experts’ Committee constitute of representatives from all the member states, who guide and advise ECSA-HC through the secretariat on all issues related to roll out and implementation of NCF.
The 73rd ECSA HC Health Ministers’ Conference considered and passed 12 resolutions among which ECD features comprehensively under ECSA/HMC73/R5: Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal, Child and Adolescent Health.
The Health Ministers Conference;
Urges Member States to: -
Accelerate implementation of policies and strengthen surveillance systems for initiatives that address Violence Against Children (VAC) through deliberate allocation of funding and human resources.
Promote institutionalization, multisectoral involvement with defined leadership roles and increased financing to support implementation of the Nurturing Care Framework for Early Childhood Development.
Review and streamline child protection laws to ensure harmonization of legislation at all levels.
Enhance community involvement and partner collaboration on issues of Early Childhood Development and Violence Against Children.
Integrate and implement robust knowledge management systems as mechanisms for accelerated implementation of Adolescent and Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health policies.
Commit to regional and global Adolescent and Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health related commitments and integrate their components into national emergency preparedness and response plans to maintain service continuity.
Contribute to the preparations towards the ministerial conference on VAC in Bogotá, Colombia in November 2024.
Directs the Secretariat to: -
Document and disseminate the findings from the Global and Regional Landscape Analysis efforts, providing opportunities within for dialogue and exchange on best practices.
Provide support to Member States to prepare for the Global Ministerial Conference on VAC in Bogota, Colombia in November 2024.
Develop a monitoring and evaluation framework and track the progress of the implementation of the past resolutions and report during the 75th Health Ministers Conference.
Support Member States in the implementation of the above and the past resolutions.
More information on the event and other resolutions can be found in this link https://ecsahc.org/ecsa-documents