Kikwete hands over health crisis report to Ban

a Special Correspondent in New York

THE United Nations (UN) High Level Panel on the Global Response to Health Crisis Chair, Jakaya Kikwete, on Monday handed over his report to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon after the panel finished its duties.

Speaking during the handing over ceremony here on Monday, Mr Ki-moon said the UN would work on recommendations made by the panel on the report, saying the report would be handed over to the UN health agency, World Health Organisation (WHO).

He expressed his gratitude to Mr Kikwete and other panel members for the report, pointing out that the report would be soon submitted to UN members to have ample time to review it.

In his remarks, Mr Kikwete hailed the panel members for the “superb team work while carrying out its duties’’, saying that they showed resilient cooperation that enabled efficient execution of assigned duties.

“I am grateful for the great honour to appoint me chair of the High Level Panel on Global Response to Health Crisis,” the former president told Mr Ki-moon. The former head of state was appointed the panel’s chair by the UN Secretary General in April last year. The panel, which started its duties in May, finished its work last December.

The six-member panel was composed of Celso Amorim (Brazil), Micheline Calmy (Switzerland), Marty Natalegawa (Indonesia), Joy Phumapi (Botswana) and Rajav Shah (USA).

It was tasked to make recommendations to strengthen national and international system to prevent and manage future health crises taking into account lessons learned from the response to the outbreak of the dreaded Ebola.

In carrying out its duties, the panel undertook a wide range of consultations, including with representatives from the affected countries and communities, the UN system, multilateral and bilateral financial regional development banks, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) and countries supporting the response effort.

Mr Kikwete was recently appointed by the UN Secretary General as a member of the High Level Advisory for Every Woman Every Child.

The group will help provide leadership and inspire ambitious action for women, children and adolescents’ health during the transition from the Millennium Development Goals to the universal Sustainable Development Goals agenda