CAIRO: The Middle East and North Africa Health Policy Forum (Mena HPF) opened on Sunday its first conference on the development and restructure of health policy in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA). The forum entitled "Better Policies for Better Health aims to address the most pressing health challenges facing the Mena region and formulate better health policies for the region's population. "Despite previous improvements, the Mena region still faces significant issues with regard to health policy. It is highly important that the health and welfare of the general public is addressed. I hope that this conference can contribute to developing better health policies; especially for the disadvantaged part of the population, Nasser Rashmi, under-secretary at the Egyptian Ministry of Health, stated in his opening remarks. The workshop is the first initiative of the Mena HPF, an agency created by members of civil society in the region in collaboration with a number of international organizations. According to its charter, the establishment of Mena HPF is a direct response to the alleged "lack of systematic research and analysis of health development in the region, and "inadequate capacity to conduct and apply health policy research in the area. Participants of the conference, which is hosted by the Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population, and cosponsored by the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO) among others, include international health experts from several countries: Professor Marc Roberts of Harvard School of Public Health, Dr Joseph Figueras from the European Observatory for Health Systems and Policies, as well as senior policy makers from international organizations and the Ministers of Health of Lebanon, Palestine, and Yemen. Presentations include discussions on social health insurance, the quality of health care and the emergence of HIV/AIDS in the region. Belgacem Sabri from the WHO stressed the importance of reforming health policies in due to the "changing demographics and fast-growing private sector. In his keynote speech, Dr Figueras argued that "governance and stewardship and increased interaction between policy makers and researchers are crucial components in the formulation and implementation of health policy. "Failure of health policy reforms often depends on governance and stewardship; not the content of the policy necessarily. Governance and stewardship are the most important functions of a health system and the Ministry of Health should be a constant driving force behind it, he added. While Figueras emphasized the role of the government in health policy formulation, Dr Martin McKee from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, raised his concern over the lack of information in the region. "Far too many human lives go unaccounted for in this region, which makes it very hard for health researchers to gather information. There should be an indictment for not recording human lives, McKee said. Regarding Egypt, McKee stated that while the country is "making great progress with a significant decrease in infant deaths, the health of the Egyptian population is threatened by malnutrition, rapid urbanization, tobacco use, and low physical activity - particularly among women.
