Double celebration for M.O.H.

By Sialai Sarafina Sanerivi • 01 December 2023, 11:00PM

It was a double celebration for the Ministry of Health on Thursday evening at the Conference Room at the Tanoa Hotel.

One was the closing of its 15th Annual Health Forum and the other was a special ceremony to honour and acknowledge its employees who have been in the service for 20 years and more.

The Director General of Health, Aiono Professor Alec Ekeroma in an interview with this newspaper said the event was quite successful and well-organised.

Guided by the theme, “Let the community lead”, Aiono explained that the National Week and forum focused on building research capacity, Aiono said this year's celebration is an acknowledgement of the many gifted individuals in the Ministry who have conducted research to inform policy and practices within the ministry.

It was also an opportunity to acknowledge the many individuals who have dedicated their lives and given their best to the ministry and to serve the people of Samoa through the health sector.

Aiono highlighted that there is a need for more clinicians to carry out research for the ministry.

The Ministry has appointed a research team and is looking at establishing a division called Research and Innovation Unit.

"Research is very important for us and the work that we do," Aiono said.

"It improves part of our work in terms of quality assurance and practices."

With the launching of E-health system to store health data on database and digitalise how data is collected and stored, Aiono is optimistic that this will improve data collection for the ministry.

He said they will also encourage clinicians to use the data to formulate analysis, then inform and make recommendations to management on how to improve practices and services within the ministry.

The Minister of Health, Valasi Tafito Selesele said the Annual Health Forum and staff recognition ceremony provided an opportunity for all health officials across the country to come together, review, share and discuss the achievements and challenges of the health sector for the past year.

"The question is how can we strengthen our health research system and develop the capacity of the sector?," Valasi said.

"There may be many answers but the Ministry of Health in response has developed the National Health Research Guideline to guide the work of the Health Research Committee in ensuring health researchers are fully complied with our national requirements for health research implementation.

"In addition, capacity building opportunities for staff on health research are offered by our development partners such as World Health Organization, NZ MFAT and Australian DFAT to build the research caliber of our workforce to implement research to help the Ministry of Health and the health sector with identification of new and better ways to prevent, diagnose and treat diseases and conditions; provides insights into the cause into the causes of illnesses and develop evidence-based interventions; and inform health and government leaders decision making on health issues."

For the staff recognition ceremony, the ministry paid homage to the services of those who have worked for 20 years and over from the different divisions within the ministry.

This included Health Research Special Awards, M.O.H. Long Service Awards, Hospital Clinical Services, Public Health Services, and Corporate Governance and Regulations Services.

The ceremony acknowledged those from the management level all the way to drivers and cleaners within the ministry.

It also acknowledged the international and local academic institutions who have conducted health research publication which was submitted and approved by the Samoa Health Research Committee 2022/2023.

These academic institutions included, Yale University, National University of Samoa, and Oceania University of Medicine.