Joint Annual Performance Review 2007 - Ministry of Health

Closing Remarks
Dr Michael J. O’Leary, WHO Representative
on behalf of Health Partners
Joint Annual Performance Review, Ministry of Health
7 th March 2007
Y.E. Sok An, Deputy Prime Minister of the Royal Government of Cambodia,
and High Representative of Samdech Hun Sen,
Prime Minister of the Royal Government of Cambodia,
Y.E. Dr Nuth Sokhom, Minister for Health,
Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
On behalf of the health partners I am again honored to address the delegates to this 28 th
National Health Congress and Fourth Joint Annual Performance Review. We appreciate the
opportunity to be with you over these last three days, and to observe the dynamic discussions
across all operational levels of the Ministry of Health in Cambodia.
This Congress has again shown the will of the Ministry of Health to examine critically its
performance in a transparent manner. We appreciate the open dialogue between the central
ministry and the provincial, operational and facilities levels. We have noted especially the
emphasis given by the delegates and leaders to health sector priorities, the bottlenecks faced
by the Ministry in pursuing these priorities, and the specific interventions proposed for
addressing these bottlenecks.
We would like to focus on the priorities identified, and the interventions proposed to achieve
results in the months to come. We fully support the priorities identified for 2007-2008, which
are:
• Emergency Obstetric Care
• Attendance at Delivery by Trained Health Professionals
• Child Survival Scorecard Interventions
• Full MPA at all Health Centers
• Reproductive Health including Birth Spacing Services
In this context, we support the emphasis given by the Ministry to the recommendations of the
Midwifery Review as one of the most urgent steps to support these health sector priorities.
We support the attention given during this Congress to translating these priorities into
improved service delivery through making MPA and CPA work at the facilities level. This
will require sustained attention to many of the bottlenecks discussed and the interventions
proposed over the past 3 days. This means ensuring that facilities have the drugs and medical
supplies they need, and that health care workers at those facilities are better paid, better
trained and better supported. It also means extending health financing mechanisms such as
health equity funds and health insurance, that link improved access for poor people to better
quality of service for all people.
As noted in your discussions, even poor people will not make use of free facilities where the
quality of service is poor. Many of the presentations and interventions have recognized that
these challenges of quality improvement become even more complex in the private sector.
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