Southern African health experts to meet for strengthening cooperation

LUSAKA, Nov. 23 — Health experts from the southern African region are expected to convene in Zambia for a meeting aimed at strengthening cooperation in the health sector, the country’s health ministry said Tuesday.
The two-day Regional Ministerial Consultative meeting will start Wednesday in Lusaka, the country’s capital, under the auspices of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) Southern Africa Regional Collaborating Center (SA-RCC), according to a release.
The meeting, which will bring together 10 health ministers, as well as senior government officials and public health experts, will seek to address the modality of work for the regional ministerial consultative committee and introduce the framework of the Regional Integrated Surveillance and Laboratory Network in the southern African region.
“The conference will also discuss issues related to strengthening collaboration, cooperation, and partnership among member states in the context of health security,” the release said.
Given Africa CDC has recognized a strong need for partnerships to deploy health assets across Africa effectively and efficiently, the strengthened collaboration among Africa’s laboratory systems is a prerequisite for building a resilient continental health security architecture, said the release.  (Xinhua)