Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/.  On April 7, today, the World Health Day is being commemorated globally under the theme “Building a fairer, healthier world for everyone” and a year-long campaign is being launched to call for urgent action to eliminate health inequities and promote health and to bring people together for a fairer, healthier world.

As part of the campaign, the Ministry of Health of Mongolia and World Health Organization are launching a project competition for “Health Equity Champions” among family, soum and village health centers. 

The competition aims to position communities at the forefront and health equity as a key priority in fulfilling commitments to achieve Universal Health Coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals and to identify and address socioeconomic and health challenges experienced by communities, especially by vulnerable groups. 

Three contestants with the best proposals will work with WHO Mongolia and will be each awarded a contract of 20,000,000 MNT to implement their solutions.

The World Health Day campaign also highlights WHO’s constitutional principle that “the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition.”

Dr S.Enkhbold, Minister of Health, opens his remarks by underlining that the right of all Mongolians to the protection of health is guaranteed by the constitution. Mongolia has made several achievements by implementing policies in delivering primary health care services free of charge to ensure equal access by all, in covering services to children, older adults and persons with disabilities by the state, in providing referral care services by regions to persons living in remote areas and in developing a health insurance system to protect citizens from financial hardships when accessing health services.

“Sadly, health inequality persists, further widened by such factors as disparities in income, remoteness, gender inequalities” says Dr S.Enkhbold and emphasizes the importance of “leaving no one behind” approach in Mongolia’s progress towards achieving the Sustainable development goals-2030 and the country’s long-term policy, “Vision-2050”.

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupts essential health services and threatens to undo the gains in the health sector of Mongolia. Thus, Mr Tapan Mishra, UN Resident coordinator, calls on UN agencies in Mongolia to work together with the Government to ensure that all Mongolians enjoy good health and well-being by systemically addressing health inequities and offering equitable and affordable health services.

Expressing WHO readiness to support Mongolia in its efforts to build a fairer, healthier society for everyone, Dr Sergey Diorditsa, WHO Representative, emphasizes community engagement as a key driver in addressing long standing social and health inequities. In addition, he says “advancing health equity means creating more resilient and equitable environments that enable and empower communities to make decisions that benefit their health and well-being.” 

Source: WHO Mongolia