Proceedings of the 13th Meeting of the
COMCEC Poverty Alleviation Working Group
19
commitment, low capacities of health professionals and national regulatory authorities, and lack of
community engagement and empowerment.
Dr. BOU HAKA concluded her presentation by stating the requirements and different dimensions
to achieve UHC. She pointed out that UHC requires that all population groups be covered for all their
health needs by services of good quality.
7.2. Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Center for
Islamic Countries (SESRIC)
Mr. Mazhar HUSSAIN, Researcher at SESRIC, shared the experience of SESRIC in the field of access
to health and presented the OIC-Strategic Health Programme of Action 2014-2023 (OIC-SHPA).
Mr. HUSSAIN firstly explained the preparation phase of the OIC-SHPA beginning in 2009. Then, he
enumerated the main thematic areas of cooperation namely:
 Health system strengthening
 Disease prevention and control
 Maternal new-born and child health and nutrition
 Medicines, vaccines and medical technologies
 Emergency health response and interventions and
 Information, research, education and advocacy.
Afterwards, Mr. HUSSAINmentioned about the major tools for the implementation of the OIC-SHPA
such as twinning programs, study visits, workshops, training of trainers, expert group meetings etc.
Mr. HUSSAIN also provided information on the organizational implementation structure including
lead country coordinators and steering committee on health. He enumerated the lead countries as
follows: Bahrain, Indonesia, Malaysia, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Each of these countries
will be leading in different thematic area.
Mr. HUSSAIN lastly touched upon some programs and networks to be benefitted from during the
implementation of the OIC-SHPA. These include IbnSina Programme for Health Capacity Building
(IbnSina-HCaB), Occupational Safety and Health Capacity Building (OSHCaB) Programme, Tobacco
Free OIC Initiative, OIC Network on Population and Reproductive, Maternal, New-born and Child
Health, OIC Ibn Sina Health Alliance of NGOs, OIC Occupational Safety and Health Network (OIC-
OSHNET).
7.3. Doctors Worldwide
Dr. Safa ŞİMŞEK, Head of Programs and Operations at Yeryüzü Doktorları Derneği (Doctors
Worldwide, YYD), presented the experiences of YYD as an international humanitarian organization
focused on healthcare and health access that has carried out hundreds of projects in nearly 50
countries to date, ranging from Afghanistan to Syria, Somalia to Gaza, and Uganda to Yemen with
support of over 100 thousand donors and volunteers exceeding 15 thousands.