KK Shailaja said the award was recognition of Kerala’s tireless service in the health sector.
Thiruvananthapuram:
Kerala won a United Nations award on Thursday for its “outstanding contribution” to the Sustainable Development Goals related to noncommunicable diseases.
This year’s United Nations Inter-Agency Working Group (UNIATF) Award on Noncommunicable Disease Prevention and Control was announced by the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The award recognizes achievements in 2019 on multisectoral action in the prevention and control of NCDs, mental health and the broader Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to NCDs.
Health Minister KK Shailaja said the award was recognition of Kerala’s tireless service in the health sector.
“The state government has set up facilities ranging from basic public health centers to hospitals at all levels to treat lifestyle-related illnesses,” Shailaja said in a statement. “We were able to control the death rate during the COVID-19 period because we were able to focus on NCDs.”
She congratulated all the health workers for the achievement of the State.
This is the first time that the state has been recognized for this annual award. Kerala is one of the seven ministries of health across the world.
The state government statement said the award was recognition of the mechanism for controlling lifestyle-related diseases in Kerala, as well as the free treatment and services received by a large part of the population.
“In addition, the Advanced Lung Disease Control Program, Cancer Treatment Program and Paralysis Control Program were also considered for the award,” he said.
