WHO Director-General Dr Tedros visits Azerbaijan: Sustainable Development Goals high on the agenda

This is Dr Tedros’s first official visit to the country in his capacity as WHO Director-General.

The Conference, which starts on 5 July, will look into how SDGs can be achieved at the national level and how the country can synchronize SDGs global targets and indicators with its national priorities and development agenda. The meeting will also focus on a range of achievements already being made in the national health sector in the process of SDGs implementation.

The event is a preparatory step towards the High-level SDGs Conference planned in Baku for October 2018, which is expected to adopt the “Baku Principles for National SDGs Mainstreaming and Acceleration”. The draft document is now being discussed by the Azerbaijan Government and UN partners that will support its implementation.

During the visit, the Director-General will stop by the Tuberculosis Training Centre of the Medical Department at the Ministry of Justice of Azerbaijan, which is a WHO collaborating centre on tuberculosis in prisons – the only one in this matter worldwide. The good work of the Centre serves as prove of country’s commitment to the Universal Health Coverage principle of leaving no one behind and to ensuring that it applies to all, in particular vulnerable groups such as inmates.

Dr Tedros will also visit the National Center of Oncology of Azerbaijan where he will meet both healthcare workers and patients to discuss key challenges and achievements. WHO encourages cervical cancer screening and is ready to assist the country in developing its national screening and HPV vaccination programs. A WHO expert mission on these issues will be discussed for early 2019.

The visit includes meetings with His Excellency Mr Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan, and other Azerbaijani high-level officials, including Mr. Ali Akhmadov, Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan, Chairman of the National Coordination Council for Sustainable Development; Mr. Ogtay Shiraliyev, Minister of Health, Mr. Elmar Mammadyarov, Minister of Foreign Affairs.

A visit to the Alley of Honour and the Martyrs’ Alley is also part of the visit’s programme.