THE Minister of Health Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham bin Haji Jaafar headed the Brunei Darussalam delegation that attended high-level meetings on the fight against tuberculosis (TB) and the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), held on September 26 and 27 respectively during the 73rd Session of United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York.
The meetings were attended by head of states, health ministers and representatives from 193 member states of the UN as well as related international non-governmental organisations (NGOs). The meeting on TB, the first ever to be convened, focussed on the theme ‘United To End Tuberculosis: An Urgent Global Response To A Global Epidemic’; while the third meeting on the prevention and control of NCDs focussed on the theme ‘Scaling-up multi-stakeholder and multi-sectoral responses for the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’.
In the minister’s statement at the meeting on the fight against TB, he acknowledged that TB continues to be the leading cause of death worldwide from a single infectious agent despite the considerable progress made in the past decade to reduce the burden of TB across the globe. For Brunei, the high numbers of people with chronic NCDs and an ageing population, contribute to Brunei Darussalam’s ongoing TB incidence even though much investments have been made in TB care and control. Therefore, an integrated approach that takes into account social issues as well as other diseases that increase the risk of acquiring TB must be undertaken. The meeting on TB unanimously adopted the political declaration on the fight against TB titled ‘United to End Tuberculosis: An Urgent Global Response to a Global Epidemic’.
In his statement for the meeting on NCDs, the minister outlined that challenges to curb the NCD epidemic remain for all countries and although some progress has been made since the first high level meeting on NCDs in 2011, a collective significant difference to the current global figures has yet to be achieved. Brunei has undertaken several actions to address NCDs, including the formulation of the Brunei Darussalam Multisectoral Action Plan on the Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases (BruMAP-NCD, 2013-2018). However, although the recent 10 NCD progress monitoring indicators showed that Brunei Darussalam is on track with surveillance and governance indicators, much still needs to be undertaken to address NCD. With the formation of the Multisectoral Task Force for Health, Brunei Darussalam is now focussing its efforts not only on addressing NCD risk factors but also on a more holistic, integrated life-course approach including ending childhood obesity and promoting mental health. The political declaration of the meeting on the prevention and control of NCDs titled ‘Time to Deliver: Accelerating Our Response to Address NCDs for the Health and Well Being of Present and Future Generations’ was also adopted.
The minister, while in New York, also held bilateral discussions with Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan Katsunobu Kato and exchanged views as well as explored potential areas of cooperation on health between the two countries.
