Challenges

Health is fundamental to a country’s systemic structure for sustaining the overall human development. It is one of the important cooperation sectors of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). Its agenda is enshrined by the OIC-2025 Programme of Action (PoA), acknowledging multidimensionality of health. Its scope of work is housed under the OIC Strategic Health Programme of Action (SHPA) 2014-2023 have expanded manifolds since jointly identified to prioritise health inasmuch as its modernisation and development of sustainable health systems. Based on SESRIC OIC Health Report, many member countries have put their utmost attention for more resources allocation and mobilisation. However, they tend to still lag behind the desired performance globally, especially the least developed ones with fragile systems due to lack of capacity building and skill development efforts, insufficient financial resources, weak infrastructures, inadequate workforces, and slow reform in health sector.

Toward a Solution

SESRIC developed the IbnSina-CaB Programme in 2010 to contribute to the efforts in improving healthcare systems and practices in the OIC member countries through human capital development. Within its framework, health is reimagined as a guidance for them in advancing their socio-economic progresses and alleviating poverty in their regions by utilising South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC) mechanism approaches. 

The programme analyses the needs as well as capacities of the member countries through regularly collected response of questionnaires, and caters accordingly in the form of multimodal short-term and/or multi-year programmes (e.g. training courses, workshops, webinars, study visits, etc.) on a particular topic (e.g. disaster medicine, epidemiology, health management, e-health, addictions, etc.). Similar needs, capacities, geographical balance and language of instruction (OIC official languages i.e. Arabic, English, and French) are taken into consideration so as to enhance its impact and cost-efficiency. In order to ensure the effective planning and implementation of the activities, SESRIC fosters involvement of Ministries of health and related national entities. These include cooperation with other stakeholders and potential partners both regional and global (e.g. COMSTECH, IsDB, WHO, UNICEF, the Global Fund, ASEAN, etc.) for its reach and scalability amplification. SESRIC has been signing agreements with various institutions, including health related institutions such as ESAFED, EMPHNET, Directorate General of Occupational Safety and Health of Türkiye, and the US CDC Foundation. 

A total of 159 health related programmes/projects have been conducted so far in multi-partite collaborations, bringing together more than 4,900 national representatives/experts, professionals and academicians as beneficiaries and contributors. The programme is conducted in hand with 23 other multisectoral current SESRIC Capacity Building Programmes in the creation of vast working machinery to improve healthcare systems. This way, One Health practice is considered among the member countries for socioeconomic development. Endorsed by international high-level fora, such as the Islamic Conference of Health Ministers (ICHM) and its implementing body the OIC Steering Committee for Health, both of which function as consultative and coordinative platforms, the programme addresses global health challenges and fosters mutual learning among the member countries, encouraging new and strengthened partnership, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Whereas SESRIC serves as a facilitator between beneficiary and provider country(s) with conditional co-financing in the implementation, where applicable, it also provides evidence-based insights through relevant research studies and data/statistical mining to inform policymaking and actionable work planning at national, regional, international levels. SESRIC continues to play a leading role in the preparation of the upcoming OIC SHPA, as a guiding document for pertinent improvement of health systems in OIC countries. The document aims to eliminate diseases and improve health outcomes in the member countries, ensuring equitable access to quality healthcare. Strategic themes, namely robust public health systems, improve maternal-child health, prevent and treat communicable and non-communicable diseases, and achieve self-reliance in essential medical technologies, such as vaccines and pharmaceuticals, are highly considered during the implementation. 

SESRIC efforts in the health sector have brought together the OIC Member Countries to establish closer cooperation and conduct joint initiatives via its intra-OIC network modality, such as the OIC Occupational Safety and Health Network (OIC-OSHNET). SESRIC has contributed to various fora/functions, including international networks, such as the ASEAN-OSHNET and the WHO Pan-European Network for Disease Control (NDC) Collaborative Surveillance Working Group.  

Specifically in strengthening tobacco surveillance, SESRIC has had a longstanding collaboration with the CDC and the CDC Foundation for Tobacco Questions for Surveys (TQS) Integration Project. Besides, it hosts thematic web portals of the OIC Health, the Tobacco Free OIC Initiative, and OIC-OSHNET. Those are intra-OIC hubs of information for knowledge exchange among counterparts, incorporating news, events, and initiatives within the diverse frameworks of health-related initiatives (IbnSina Health, Occupational Safety and Health, Tobacco Free OIC), OIC-OSHNET, TQS Integration Project, and Alliance to Fight Avoidable Blindness (AFAB). 

It is evident the overall health-related programme of SESRIC is attributable to the collective efforts in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as prioritised by the member countries, particularly on SDGs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9 and 13. However, SESRIC works foster sustainability among the member countries through willing provision and benefit from technical expertise of its fellow so as to innovate and adapt the good practices under the OIC-2025: PoA, 2030 Agenda, SDGs, and Paris Agreement.