Belarus fully supports the initiatives of the World Health Organization and has made every effort to implement them. This was stated by President Alexander Lukashenko at the WHO European Ministerial Conference. It opened in Minsk today and gathered two hundred experts from 53 countries. The purpose of the forum is to implement a new policy Health 2020. It is an ambitious plan of action, which aims at prevention of noncommunicable diseases. As noted by Alexander Lukashenko, the European countries face today the same problems. We need to join our forces in order to cope with them and fight the diseases together.
The European concept Health 2020 declares that no human life is held in isolation. We all come together in families, groups, nations. And we need joint efforts of governments in the field of medicine and health care.
Our country can offer its experience in dealing with problems such as minimizing the consequences of the Chernobyl catastrophe, ensuring maximum accessibility to hospitals.
Belarus will never spare money on the nation’s health. Significant funds are allocated annually on health care. Last year, they amounted to almost 6% of GDP. Only during the last 5 years more than 130 medical facilities were put into operation in the country. The costs of construction and renovation amounted to more than US $ 600 million. The formation of 17 national research centers, covering all aspects of health and treatment, was completed.
Promotion of sport and the fight against addictions are among the priorities of the state, which cares about the wellbeing of its people.
The American agency Bloomberg evaluates the effectiveness of health systems based on three criteria: life expectancy, the share of health care costs in the national economy and the absolute value of expenditure per capita. Belarus is presented in the rankings for the first time and is ranked the 42nd. For example, Azerbaijan is on the 49th place, Russia is on the 51st place. Our country has even a better position than the United States, which occupies the 44th place in the rating.
Belarus rose to the 26th place in the list of the most comfortable countries for motherhood. The rating takes into account five factors: the risk of maternal mortality, deaths of children under the age of 5 years, the level of education that children will be able to receive, gross national income, and even the participation of women in political life.
Innovations of our scientists are widely used in the development of the Belarusian medicine. Science and practice are connected together. High-tech and complex operations have become standard procedures for many doctors.
The domestic pharmaceuticals industry is developing actively. Prior to 2017, 35 investment projects will have been implemented in Belarus in this field. The industry has already attracted more than 40 million US dollars of direct foreign investment.
The forum participants took the opportunity to personally visit Belarusian medical institutions. For example, Zsuzsanna Jakab visited yesterday the Cancer Center in Borovlyany.
As a result of the large-scale medical forum a Minsk declaration will be signed tomorrow.
