Finance Minister / Deputy Prime Minister
Kittiratt Na Ranong (center) cuts the ribbon to officially open the
IUHPE meeting in Pattaya.
While Thailand’s urbanization has raised the
country’s economic prospects, it has had unintended consequences for
public health, the country’s finance minister said at the opening of the
International Union for Health Promotion and Education’s World
Conference on Health Promotion in Pattaya.
Kittiratt Na Ranong, who also serves as deputy prime minister, told the
more than 2,000 health professionals at the PEACH Convention Center in
Jomtien Beach Aug. 25-29 that urban development is has created more
factors contributing to the deterioration of the public’s well-being.
“Economic growth, urban expansion and technological development should
have helped human health, but instead they have caused negative effects,
such as high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes,” Kittiratt
said. Some of those problems are caused by poor eating habits and a lack
of exercise, he added.
The minister stressed that the Thai government has placed importance on
promoting a healthy lifestyle, as it lays a foundation for national
security. He added that Thailand has achieved its millennium-development
goals set 10 years ago by the Ministry of Public Health.
Dr. Pravet Wasri, president of the National Health Foundation, which is
hosting the meeting, said society should pay more attention to personal
health rather than focus on economic prosperity alone. In order to
achieve a health reform, everyone needs to get involved and adopt an
approach based on the independent organization’s model in implementing
health promotion programs.
Their remarks opened a busy three-day meeting attended by doctors and
researchers from 76 countries who offered 1,449 presentations and
participated in 126 workshops.
The IUHPE meeting served as a forum to highlight
contrasting and challenging views and offer a platform for exchange and
debate on mainstream and alternative perspectives. The various sessions
provided a mixture of practical lessons from global, national and
regional experiences.
The conference’s agenda sought to examine the best investments for
health, the different views that shape health policy, investors in
health-promotion systems, challenges to developing and implementing
health policies, and innovations transforming health promotion.
Attending the meeting were Dr. Sania Nishtar, Ministry of Public Health
from Pakistan, Daniel Wiestok from the research facility in Montreal
University, Professor Ann Mills, scholar on policies and public health
economics, Dr. Wiroj Tangcharoensathien, Ministry of Public Health in
Thailand, and Somsukh Bunyabuncha, Asian Residents Development
Foundation.
Other speakers included World Bank President Jim Yong Kim; Somsook
Boonyabancha, secretary-general of the Asian Coalition for Housing
Rights; John Frank, director of the Scottish Collaboration for Public
Health Research and Policy; and Sergio Fajardo Valderrama, governor of
Antioquia, and others. (CPRD)
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