Photo: ROK NA. Kim Se-yeon, Chair of ROK National Assembly’s Health and Welfare Committee, presenting on “How parliaments can foster solidarity to address COVID-19 (Block C)” in an ad hoc meeting from APPFGH
On April 23, Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum on Global Health (APPFGH) convened an ad hoc virtual meeting of the Forum to enhance the role of parliamentarians in COVID-19 response. The meeting was chaired by the President of APPFGH, Keio Takemi, and the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific, as Secretariat to the Forum, assisted with technical issues and administration.
Since the outbreak of the pandemic, there were multiple control measures of the virus in action. However, the virus has already spread widely in the region, and pharmaceutical interventions are no longer enough to curb the spread of the virus. Therefore, it is crucial for authorities to now focus resources on non-pharmaceutical interventions to reduce transmission and mitigate the impact on health-care systems and societies.
What parliaments can do to play a significant role are as follows: 1. Developing or amending legislation to address and enable COVID-19 response; 2. Discussing plans and financing for COVID-19 response, social protection and other economic measures; 3. Responding to issues raised by constituents in relation to COVID-19; 4. Strengthening institutional mechanisms within parliaments to coordinate COVID-19 issues (e.g. parliamentary bodies established for APPFGH engagement, standing committees on health and social affairs, informal “friends of health” groups); and 5. Collaborating with ministries to provide oversight on COVID-19 response, including issues related to limitations on power, human rights, protecting marginalized populations, and leaving no-one behind.
The virtual meeting served as a platform to obtain updated technical information from WHO on the COVID-19 situation, share experiences on parliamentary actions relating to COVID-19, and consider how the Forum can support these efforts.
BY MSEAP Cyber Secretariat (mseap@assembly.go.kr) |
