A union of health and environment ministers in Africa have taken on new schemes to strengthen environmental sanity that threatens the health of Africans.
The Initiative comes as a World Health Organisation (WHO) commission’s report indicated that poor environmental management and lack of considerate policies from African Health and Environmental ministers is killing people on a ‘grand scale.’
The African ministers, who met in Libreville, Gabon, signed and accepted what is now called a ‘Libreville Declaration.’
Minister of Health and Public Hygiene of Gabon, Mme Angelique Ngoma, commented that the meeting will go down in the sands of Africa’s history as the first to generate a synergy of political action and complementarities between health and environment for sustainable African development.
Regional Director of World Health Organisation, Africa Regional Office, Dr. Luis G. Sambo, in a report on the declaration said: ‘The signing of this landmark declaration is the first step towards saving the lives of millions of people from the harmful effects of changes in the environment. We will work together to promote strategic alliances between health and environment. I am delighted that we have managed to secure political commitment to catalyse institutional changes needed to improve the health and well-being of communities in the region.’
