ArmInfo. The World Health Organization will render consulting assistance to Armenia in expanding the insurance component in the healthcare sphere, said the head of the Armenian office of the World Health Organization (WHO) Egor Zaitsev during a meeting with Health Minister Arsen Torosyan. According to the press service of the ministry, the parties also discussed the possibilities of expanding the insurance program.
According to the source, the parties paid special attention to measures aimed at combating smoking and the need for adoption of acts on the prohibition of smoking in public places. "Personally, I am very interested in the fact that this law was adopted and as soon as possible. And surely the bill will be adopted. However, the perception of the public regarding fines remains uncertain, therefore, the changes must go more smoothly. Some provisions of the bill will be reviewed, and then sent to the parliament," the minister said.
Speaking about non-communicable diseases, E. Zaitsev said that WHO will render the necessary assistance in the issue of carrying out studies on the part of annual losses in the country's GDP due to these diseases and the possibility of their reduction in forecasting. Besides, high level of concern, he said, causes a level of injuries as a result of road accidents in Armenia. In this regard, based on the current strategy, an agreement was reached to launch a new program in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Science and the Traffic Police.
At the same time, the parties agreed to implement joint steps in the issue of predicting Hepatitis infection and reducing the amount of unnecessary use of antibiotics.
At the end of the meeting, E. Zaitsev invited A. Torosyan to an international meeting to be held in Tallinn in June this year, in which participants will discuss the key problems in the field of health.
