Macao boasts best health status in Asia: WHO official

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, December 02, 2003

Macao boasts best health status in Asia: WHO official

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"The health situation in Macao is the best in Asia," said Linda Milan, an official from the World Health Organization (WHO), who is on her inspection tour in China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) Tuesday.

The director of Building Healthy Communities and Populations of the WHO West Pacific Region just concluded her two-day visit in Macao on the condition of the city's public health and the health system's epidemic control ability.

"Macao's quick restructuring of hospitals' facilities and services in reaction to the control of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is highly commendable. The Macao SAR government isable to address other similar challenges in the future," said Milan, who was contributing her expertise to Macao's preparatory bidding for WHO-entitled "Healthy City" on her inspection.

Macao has got ready for the bidding at the suggestion of Shigeru Omi, the WHO Western Pacific Regional director. He suggested Macao apply for the "Healthy City" appraisal during his trip to Macao on July 30.

"It is the right time for Macao to showcase its image as a healthy and safe tourist city," he said when referring to the SAR's effective containment of SARS, which broke out in Macao's neighboring regions of Guangdong and Hong Kong in the first half of this year. Macao only recorded one imported case.

Macao has formed a five-member preparatory committee led by KoiKuok Ieng, director of the Health Service for the "Healthy City" bidding. Chief Executive of the Macao SAR government Edmund Ho HauWah told Milan Monday that the work will go in full swing in 2004.

Milan said that the work for the bidding is not a task for the health department alone, but requires cross-sectoral collaborationof the government and adequate public education and publicity on personal hygiene and the building of healthy communities.

Milan was the fifth expert from WHO to have visited Macao this year. As a member of WHO's West Pacific Region, Macao receives supervision and consultation from the organization on the disease control and monitoring.

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