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<P dir=ltr><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT color=#000000>Dear</FONT></SPAN><SPAN
lang=en-us> <FONT color=#000000>colleague</FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT
color=#000000>s</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P dir=ltr><SPAN lang=en-us></SPAN></P>
<P dir=ltr><SPAN lang=en-us>I am pleased to share with you the letter from the
six Regional Directors published in Lancet. The letter is attached and available
in the following link </SPAN><A
href="http://multimedia.thelancet.com/pdf/EOP190608.pdf"><SPAN
lang=en-us><U><FONT
color=#0000ff>http://multimedia.thelancet.com/pdf/EOP190608.pdf</FONT></U></SPAN><SPAN
lang=en-us></SPAN></A><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT color=#000000>.</FONT></SPAN><SPAN
lang=en-us> Main page<FONT color=#000000> of Lancet</FONT></SPAN><SPAN
lang=en-us> is </SPAN><A href="http://www.thelancet.com"><SPAN
lang=en-us><U><FONT color=#0000ff>www.thelancet.com</FONT></U></SPAN><SPAN
lang=en-us></SPAN></A><SPAN lang=en-us></SPAN></P>
<P align=left><FONT color=#000080 size=3><U></U></FONT> </P>
<P align=left><FONT color=#000080 size=3><U>Ghassan
Shahrour,MD,<BR>President,<BR>Al yarmouk Syrian Society<BR>PO Box 14189
Damascus<BR>Syria<BR><A
href="mailto:ghassan.dr@gmail.com">ghassan.dr@gmail.com</A><BR><A
href="http://www.alyarmouk.org">www.alyarmouk.org</A></U></FONT></P>
<P align=left><FONT color=#000080 size=3><U>Find below the full
text:</U></FONT></P>
<P align=left>Correspondence</P></FONT><FONT
face="CTSFZX+Shaker2Lancet-Regular,Shaker 2 Lancet" color=#221e1f size=1>
<P><FONT size=2>www.thelancet.com </FONT></FONT><FONT color=#221e1f size=1><FONT
size=2>Published online June 19, 2008 DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(08)60890-9
1</FONT></P></FONT><FONT color=#221e1f size=4>
<P>Unequivocal regional support for Margaret Chan’s commitment to primary health
care</P></FONT><FONT face="CTSFZX+Shaker2Lancet-Regular,Shaker 2 Lancet"
color=#221e1f size=2>
<P align=justify>Your May 31 Editorial (p 1811)</FONT><FONT
face="CTSFZX+Shaker2Lancet-Regular,Shaker 2 Lancet" color=#221e1f size=1>1
</FONT><FONT face="CTSFZX+Shaker2Lancet-Regular,Shaker 2 Lancet" color=#221e1f
size=2>appropriately expresses the intent of the WHO Director-General, Margaret
Chan, to revitalise the vision laid out in the 1978 Alma-Ata
Declaration.</FONT><FONT face="CTSFZX+Shaker2Lancet-Regular,Shaker 2 Lancet"
color=#221e1f size=1>2 </FONT><FONT
face="CTSFZX+Shaker2Lancet-Regular,Shaker 2 Lancet" color=#221e1f size=2>It
states, “Whether WHO’s six Regional Directors, who have influence at country
level, support Chan’s primary health care agenda is unclear”.</P>
<P align=justify>Chan’s commitment to primary health care is in itself an
expression of the unequivocal support from the six Regional Directors and of the
unanimity of views among the senior management of the organisation with regard
to primary health care. Despite the wide variation across and within regions
with respect to health challenges and the responses required to address these,
there is mutual agreement that primary health care will continue to be central
to WHO’s strategy to strengthen health systems towards the vision of “Health for
All”. This is reflected not only in the resolutions endorsed by the World Health
Assembly and the Regional Committees but also in the country-led programmes
supported by WHO that uphold the values and principles of Health for All and the
strategy of primary health care.</FONT><FONT
face="CTSFZX+Shaker2Lancet-Regular,Shaker 2 Lancet" color=#221e1f
size=1>3–9</P></FONT><FONT face="CTSFZX+Shaker2Lancet-Regular,Shaker 2 Lancet"
color=#221e1f size=2>
<P align=justify>The conformity of views goes beyond primary health care. The
Regional Directors share Chan’s vision and fully support the six priority areas
she set out as the focus of WHO’s work: development for health; health security;
building the capacity of health systems; developing better information and
knowledge, which includes setting the agenda for research and development and
building evidence for health; enhancing partnerships; and improving the
performance of the organisation.</FONT><FONT
face="CTSFZX+Shaker2Lancet-Regular,Shaker 2 Lancet" color=#221e1f
size=1>10</P></FONT><FONT face="CTSFZX+Shaker2Lancet-Regular,Shaker 2 Lancet"
color=#221e1f size=2>
<P align=justify>The support of the Regional Directors for Chan is built on the
frank and frequent interaction among the seven elected officers of the
organisation to evolve a unified strategy, as well as their own commitment to
the universal values of social justice, equity, and recognition of health as a
human right that is embedded in the WHO constitution and reaffirmed in the
Alma-Ata declaration.</P>
<P align=justify>A comprehensive series of regional conferences, endorsed by WHO
and emphasising the need for well performing health systems based on primary
health care, is currently taking place. The first of these was held in Buenos
Aires, Argentina, in August, 2007, followed by similar conferences in Beijing,
China; Bangkok, Thailand; and Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. In October, nations
from the European Region will meet in Almaty (formerly Alma-Ata) to celebrate
the 30th anniversary of the Declaration, and a conference of the Eastern
Mediterranean Region will be held in Doha, Qatar, in November, 2008, the theme
of which is “Primary health care: the foundation for health and well-being”.
Similarly, South East Asia Region is also hosting a conference on revitalising
primary health care in August, 2008, in Jakarta, Indonesia. These conferences
are an expression as much of the commitment by countries of the regions as of
the Regional Offices to primary health care.</P>
<P align=justify>In addition, the Director-General and the Regional Directors
agreed in early 2008 to present a common document on primary health care as the
basis for a substantive discussion during the upcoming Regional Committees. The
outcome of these discussions will greatly contribute to the process of renewal
of primary health care in the subsequent meetings of the Executive Board of WHO
and during the World Health Assembly in 2009. </P>
<P align=justify>Learning from the post-Alma-Ata experience, WHO’s commitment to
Health for All and primary health care strategy has to be long-term and
unwavering over the coming decades. And although a decade from now there will be
a different Director-General and Regional Directors, the onus is on the current
leadership of WHO, under the guidance of the 193 Member States, to ensure that
primary health care does not remain an approach driven by motivated individuals
but is enmeshed in the fibre that binds the organisation’s strategic objectives
together and to its three levels.</P></FONT><FONT
face="BLIZLZ+Shaker2Lancet-Italic,Shaker 2 Lancet" color=#221e1f size=2>
<P>*Hussein A Gezairy, Shigeru Omi, Marc Danzon, Mirta Roses Periago,
Plianbangchang Samlee, Luis Gomes Sambo</P></FONT><FONT color=#221e1f size=1>
<P><FONT color=#000080 size=2></FONT></FONT><FONT
face="CTSFZX+Shaker2Lancet-Regular,Shaker 2 Lancet" color=#221e1f
size=1> </P></FONT></FONT></STRONG></DIV></BODY></HTML>