Minister leads delegation to annual world health summit |27 May 2022
Minister Vidot, Hon. Rosie Bistoquet and PS Valentin with Howard Catton (right) of the International Council of Nursing (ICN)
Health Minister Peggy Vidot was among more than 100 international delegates who, on Tuesday May, 24, re-elected the director-general of the World Health Organisation, Dr Tedros Adhanom Gebreyesus, for another term of five years.
Minister Vidot is leading a delegation of four to the annual World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland.
The delegation also includes the chairperson of the Health Committee in the National Assembly, Hon. Rosie Bistoquet; principal secretary for Health, Dr Bernard Valentin; and senior medical officer, Dr Vanessa Lesperance.
On the sidelines of the World Health Assembly, Minister Vidot has shared Seychelles’ experience on managing the Covid pandemic with several of her colleagues. Among these was Councillor Alain Berset, who holds the portfolio for health in the Federal Government of Switzerland. Mr Berset invited Minister Vidot to the Global Ministerial Summit on Patient Safety to be held in the city of Montreux in February next year.
During a high-level panel discussion, among experts and ministers from several continents, the health minister extolled Seychelles’ good practices in fighting obesity but also presented the challenges of promoting healthy living in Seychelles and other small island developing states.
The health minister took the opportunity to meet with the chief executive of the International Council of Nurses, Howard Catton. The two sides discussed opportunities for collaboration in setting modern nursing standards and furthering nursing development in Seychelles.
In addition, the health minister and her delegation visited one substance abuse treatment facility in Geneva to learn from Switzerland’s wealth of ground-breaking experience in successfully providing physical, mental and social care to people suffering from the ubiquitous disease of addiction.
Press release from the Ministry of Health
