(Seychelles News Agency) - Seychelles and the World Health Organisation (WHO) signed another two-year work plan worth nearly $3 million (SCR40 million) to improve the quality of universal health in the country.

The agreement for the biennial programme of work for 2024-2025 was signed by the Minister for Health, Peggy Vidot, and the WHO representative for Seychelles, Rex Mpazanje, on Monday at the L'Escale Resort and Spa.

For this biennial plan, there has been an increase in the budget space allocated to Seychelles of almost $1 million more than in previous programmes.

Mpazanje said this is partly because of "the consistent message that the government has been making to the international community asking the international community to favourably look at Seychelles both in terms of concessional funding and development assistance. Because although Seychelles may be a high-income country, it has many vulnerabilities."

WHO helps its health authorities parties in various countries and holds conversations as to what is happening in the field.  

Mpazanje explained that when allocating a budget space it "is only then that we decide on how much of that budget space we will actually budget for."

The decision is taken at the country level on how to mobilise their resources and use the budget allocated to them.

Dr. Sanjeev Pugazhendhi, principal policy analyst in the Ministry of Health, said  since Seychelles already offers free primary care, this agreement will "mainly focus on how we can improve the service we provide especially in the government system and how to better coordinate our work with that of the public sector."

The latest agreement will also address another pillar in the health sector, which is the country's preparedness in public health emergencies.

"Just like COVID-19 hit us, followed by Monkeypox and now we have cholera reaching certain African countries and has already hit Comoros. This will help us to be better prepared so that we can react promptly should such epidemics hit our shores," he added.

The third area that the funding will address is that of managing health risk factors, especially where non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, are concerned.

"Diabetes, hypertension and cancer are the factors affecting the population and they are mainly responsible for the majority of deaths recorded among the Seychellois," he said.

There will be various health programmes due to be put in place to determine how to lower the risks of contracting these diseases over the coming two years.

The ministry will also work on increasing its leadership capacity.

"Many new partners are coming into the field and we want to have better mechanisms for coordination with all of them so that there is synergy in our work to make an impact on the population's health," he explained.

Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, subscribed to WHO in 1986 and has had a permanent office since 2018.