Public health central to development goals, human rights: Chinese official

Senior Chinese diplomat Ren Yisheng stressed Friday that access to public health for all people should be an essential component of development initiatives as well as a central tenet to human rights principles.

Addressing the 32nd session of the Human Rights Council (HRC), minister counsellor Ren said: "The world is experiencing the continued deteriorating impact of infectious diseases, epidemics and health emergencies as well as non-communicable disease."

"Global health threats reverse much of the development and progress made in recent decades. Public health is emerging as major area of concern all over the world," he added.

While reminding that it is all too often the poorest countries that bear the brunt of health scourges, Ren said that efforts should be enhanced to ensure that all nations have the capacity to address complex health issues.

In tune with the UN Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the international community last year, strengthening public health is also closely tied to the realization of all human rights, Ren said.

The statements as the Council passed a resolution promoting the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health through enhancing capacity-building in public health.

"The resolution aims to raise the awareness of the importance of public health and calls upon the international community to promote cooperation in strengthening the public health system of all countries, in particular developing countries and their capacity to prevent, detect and respond to national and global health risks," the senior official remarked.

"The international community needs to redouble our efforts to achieve this important and challenging goal," he said.

Co-sponsored with six other nations, the resolution was unanimously adopted without a vote by Council members.

The HRC's 32nd session began on June 13 and ended on Friday. Endit