​DISCUSSIONS ABOUT MALARIA AND PREPARATION OF RESOLUTIONS TODAY AT THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION

Today, 13th November, the debate sessions continued in the World Health Organisation. The main topic of discussion has been malaria and how this disease affects Sub-Saharan countries. Prevention was noted as the most effective way to combat this disease, along with testing, educating the population and raising awareness.

Malaria’s symptoms are usually delayed over a year, which makes the disease almost impossible to identify. That is the reason why is essential for the population of countries affected by these kinds of diseases to get tested. However, the lack of awareness and education on this matter makes it difficult for citizens to be willing to get tested. In addition, the opportunity to get tested is not available for everyone, which creates a highly risky and dangerous situation for people’s wellbeing. On this matter, the US suggested as a solution to this issue malaria checks every six months to detect those who are infected and eventually halting the propagation of the disease.

After the first debate sessions of the day, the chairs proceeded to explain to the delegates everything they needed to know about resolutions in order for them to draft one. Some of the delegates shared the topics they are planning on focusing on in their resolutions, like Venezuela, which wants to improve education on HIV and malaria to make sure citizens can recognise the symptoms properly. On this matter, Mozambique added that education can lead to and improvement in economy. Moreover, China believes infrastructures are the key to achieve an improvement in economy, so the country is willing to invest in the construction of roads, clinics and schools.

The importance of providing healthcare insurance was highly stressed during the interventions. Yemen believes that the key for achieving a long term solution is ensuring that these countries can reach a point where they can be auto sufficient, “working on a system where underdeveloped countries can be stronger and do not have to rely on other countries”.

The countries seemed to have an open mind and attitude, willing to listen to each other and work together to reach resolutions that can benefit the countries in need. As Yemen claimed: “All delegates should be willing to compromise because that is how an agreement works”.