IALP representative at the 74th session of the World Health Organization Regional Committee for the Western Pacific

I am honoured to represent the International Association of Communication Sciences and Disorders (IALP) at the seventy-fourth session of the World Health Organization Regional Committee for the Western Pacific (#RCM74), 16 to 20 October 2023 in Manila, Philippines https://www.who.int/westernpacific/about/governance/regional-committee/session-74. 

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the World Health Organization. "The Regional Committee for the Western Pacific is home to over 1.9 billon people acrosss 37 countries and areas. The Region includes some of the world's largest and smallest countries - China with more than 1.4 billon people and Niue with fewer than 2000 - some with young populations and others that are ageing rapidly. The region is extremely diverse and includes countries at different stages of development with different health system capacities" (WHO, 2019).

RCM74 agenda items include: 

• 10. Investing in health and universal health coverage
• 11. Health security 
• 12. Health innovation 
• 13. Communication for health 
• 14. Health workforce 
• 15. Progress reports on technical programmes 
• 15.1 Thematic priority: Health security, including COVID-19 and antimicrobial resistance 
• 15.2 Thematic priority: Noncommunicable diseases and ageing 
• 15.3 Thematic priority: Climate change, the environment and health 
• 15.4 Thematic priority: Reaching the unreached 
• 15.5 Cross-cutting progress report: Advancing the For the Future vision 

Here is the #RCM74 YouTube channel with videos of the proceedings: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA7dYQkD0Btrdj8ajTfUJYJ3xW0vrqWD1

 I have submitted two interventions on behalf of IALP addressing:

• 13. Communiation for Health (C4H): https://www.who.int/westernpacific/news-room/multimedia/overview/item/communicating-for-health-impact#
• 14. Shaping a health workforce for the future
  

In my interventions on behalf of the IALP, I commend the WHO Regional Committee for the Western Pacific for the C4H initiative and the Disability-inclusive health services toolkit: A resource for health facilities in the Western Pacific Region https://www.who.int/westernpacific/publications-detail/9789290618928. I commended WHO for including communication disability, "People Who Have Trouble Speaking" (p. 67) AND "People With Hearing Impairment" (p. 64) in the section on "Practical strategies for communicating inclusive health information" and also offered recommendations for expanding understanding about communication disability and strategies for communicating inclusive health information based on the following work we have undertaken:The interventions profile the work published in our two special issues of the International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology addressing the United Nations' agendas: 

• Communication is a Human Right – 2018 - vol 20(1) - https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/iasl20/20/1
• Communication, Swallowing and the Sustainable Development Goals – 2023 vol 25(1) - https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/iasl20/25/1 

I am also profiling the new book published by IALP, in which many of our team are authors: 

• Levey, S. & Enderby, P. (Eds.). (2023). The unserved: Addressing the needs of those with communication disorders. J&R Press. https://ialpasoc.info/publication/

Dr Ferdiliza Garcia is also representing IALP from the Philippines and I look forward to meeting with her.

Congratulations to Dr Saia Ma’u Piukala, proposed by Tonga, who has been nominated as the next @WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific for the next 5 years.

 I met Dr Saia Ma’u Piukala, the new WHO Regional Director and discussed Tonga and the role of speech-language pathologists throughout the Western Pacific