“Together as a family’’ is how the newly appointed Honourable Valasi Toogamaga Tafito Selesele, Minister of Health Samoa, expressed his commitment to working with the World Health Organization (WHO) to improve the health of Samoans and to respond effectively to the COVID-19 pandemic. He emphasized his commitment to an ‘open door’ policy and continued dialogue with the WHO for technical advice and support. This commitment was given to Dr. Baoping Yang, Officer-in-Charge, WHO, who paid a courtesy call to the Honourable Minister, along with his team, on Thursday 5th August 2021.
‘You need to know what is happening on the ground by seeing for yourself,’ The Honourable Minister expressed. He believes in working on the ground by meeting the people he serves and understanding their concerns to guide him and the Ministry to address them appropriately. This is why his morning routine includes visiting the TTM hospital and will soon see him conducting more field visits across the islands.
Dr. Yang accepted the Honourable Minister Selesele’s invitation to accompany him on his field visits, which will commence soon, starting on island of Savai’i. He too believes in working in the field and agreed that ‘you cannot ably assess the people’s needs from your office.’
Minister Selesele also stressed that he will continue all major current health policies, strategies and priorities to build upon the successes achieved in the past while addressing gaps including for staff, supplies and equal quality of care for patients in both main islands of the country.
Strengthening health systems to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC); reducing non-communicable diseases and premature deaths; protecting women’s and children’s health and controlling communicable diseases; and protecting the Samoan people from disease outbreaks are top priorities outlined by the Minister to Dr. Yang.
An immediate and urgent priority is the Ministry’s goal to vaccinate more than 95 per cent of Samoa’s eligible population for COVID-19. Dr. Yang shared his analysis of key milestones to get there by the end of November 2021. In short, “95 per cent of the eligible population will need to be vaccinated by the end of September with their first dose followed by their second dose eight weeks later. This equates to about 2300 vaccinations per working day”, he said.
Dr. Yang acknowledged Samoa’s contributions in the Pacific including the Healthy Islands initiative and briefed the Honourable Minister on the upcoming WHO Regional Committee Meeting (RCM) in Himeji, Japan, 25-29 October 2021.
The RCM is an annual meeting of Ministers of Health who meet to agree, chart and prioritize the WHO’s work in the region. The meeting will take on a hybrid approach that allows attendance in-person and virtually. Dr. Yang encouraged Hon. Minister Valasi to attend in-person given the importance of the meeting, the opportunity to meet his fellow ministers and counterpart vis a vis the risk management efforts to keep everyone safe. He also noted the opportunity for the Minister to share Samoa’s experiences with his fellow ministers and counterparts on how it achieved and maintained it’s COVID-19 free status.
All photos are courtesy of the Ministry of Health:
The Honourable Valasi Toogamaga Tafito Selesele, newly appointed Minister of Health Samoa
The Honourable Valasi Toogamaga Tafito Selesele and Dr. Baoping Yang, WHO Officer-in-Charge exchange greetings
WHO Dr. Baoping Yang (OIC) and Dr. Dyxon Hansell (HSS Adviser)
The WHO Team and the Honourable Minister of Health, The Honourable Valasi Toogamaga Tafito Selesele
The Honourable Minster reviewing the health priorities with the WHO team.