Minister Vidot calls for health care quality improvement at global meeting |01 July 2021

Minister Vidot

At the virtual meeting of Small Island Developing States (Sids) that took place on June 28-29 under the auspices of the World Health Organisation, Seychelles’ health minister Peggy Vidot stipulated that equitable access to non-communicable diseases and mental health services is necessary but not sufficient to leave no one behind.

Minister Vidot emphasised that quality of care is as important as equitable access and underscored the efforts of the Seychelles government to improve care quality despite many disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Minister Vidot rallied the meeting on how the experience of Seychelles may provide useful guidance to other small island developing states on what to do and what not to do as they address their own burden of non-communicable diseases and mental health.

“The number of people, in Seychelles, living or dying with uncontrolled diabetes, uncontrolled hypertension and complications of uncontrolled diabetes and hypertension, such as chronic renal failure in their mid-50s and mid-60s is still disappointingly high. The cost of addressing chronic renal failure is spiraling out of control. Haemodialysis, alone, consumes about 10% of the total health care budget in Seychelles. The number of people presenting to the medical services with stage four cancer is also far too high for our liking,” she said.

Prime ministers, ministers of health and other representatives of small island developing states of the entire world, focused intense attention specifically on their special health circumstances for the first time. The outcome statement which they signed on to at the end of the two-day meeting called for multi-sector actions on the environment, economy and social determinants of health to protect lives, livelihoods, health and wellbeing.

“Small island developing states face acute and existential health and development threats including climate change and related natural disasters, the burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and malnutrition, and the ongoing unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic,” the statement said.

Press release from the Ministry of Health