보건복지부 영문홈페이지

Minister of Health and Welfare Rim, Chae Min attended the 5^th Tripartite Health Ministers Meeting

- Cooperative measures to control chronic diseases, etc discussed -

Minister of Health and Welfare Rim, Chae Min attended the 5^th Tripartite Health Ministers Meeting which was held in Qingdao, China on 13 Nov. (Sun.).

Minister Rim emphasized the need for cooperation in “prevention and control of chronic diseases” among the three nations and suggested consistent cooperation through establishment of a network among them.   

※ The Tripartite Health Ministers Meeting is a regular consultative body which began motivated by the spread of the avian flu in 2007 and is being hosted by each nation on a rotation basis. (The 1^st and 4^th meetings were hosted by Korea, the 2^nd was held in China and the 3^rd, in Japan.)

Rim said that more than 60% of deaths in Korea are caused by chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases and cancer, etc;

- and he added that for such chronic diseases, preventive measures will be more effective than post-treatment action policies. He also stressed the importance of multi-faceted approach in which not just the health area but also the other departments of the entire government gets involved.

The health authorities in the three nations agreed that they would seek consistent cooperative measures by sharing and exchanging efforts and experiences of each country for control of chronic diseases.

Health Ministers also reconfirmed their commitment to working together in tackling influenza pandemics, food safety, and clinical trials as well as maternal and child health ODA programs.

In the meantime, Minister Rim participated in bilateral meetings between Korea and China, and Korea and Japan which preceded the tripartite meeting.

In the meeting with China’s Health Minister Chen Zhu,

- it was proposed to come up with ways to share information on outbreaks of infectious diseases in order to properly respond to waterborne diseases and food-borne illnesses that can spread along with the expansion of trade between the two nations.

- directions in promoting joint policies on cancer were also suggested given that the two nations have higher percentages of cancer including stomach and liver cancer, etc compared to western nations.

In the talk with Japan’s Health Minister Yoko Komiyama,

- it was suggested that practical working-level solutions would be sought by strengthening policy exchanges between the two countries in tacking low birth rates and aging populations, etc.

- Particularly, cooperative measures in cancer control programs to share and exchange information and experiences from Korea’s cancer registration program and Japan’s palliative medicine were discussed.   

In a bilateral meeting with Dr. Shin Young Soo WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific, Minister Rim discussed with Dr. Shin ways to provide cooperative support in full measure for successful hosting of the 5^th Conference of the Parties to the
WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control by Korea, which is scheduled to be held in Seoul in 2012.