Opening Remarks by WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti
DG, Dr Tedros,
Colleagues Regional Directors,
Dear Members of AFSM, our “retired but not tired” colleagues,
Thank you, DG, for organizing this meeting and inviting us Regional Directors to participate. It is a pleasure to join you.
In AFRO, we have good relations with retired colleagues and their families.
We support retired colleagues to timely receive their pension benefits and health insurance services.
Concerning deceased colleagues, we collaborate with pension to identify beneficiaries of deceased colleagues and ensure their indemnities are duly provided.
In Brazzaville, we have provided an office for the exclusive use of WHO retired staff for their secretarial and administrative services.
We have also provided transportation for retired staff in Brazzaville on a case-by-case basis.
We also continue to take advantage of the experience and expertise of our retired colleagues: Many of them serve as consultants and continue to support our work in AFRO. Their contributions have been appreciated and commendable.
Last year, when we commemorated WHO’s 75th Anniversary, I invited the representatives of AFSM to RC73 and particularly to the WHO@75 regional celebration events. I also encouraged all WRs to support AFSM members in the countries actively.
I’m happy to share that we have worked with AFSM to develop an MoU that formalizes our partnership.
I urge the leadership of the AFSM to reach out to all retirees across the region and to make the association more inclusive of all retired staff, regardless of their levels, so no one is left behind. We want all retirees to feel at home and well-represented in AFSM.
I conclude by pledging my total commitment and that of my team to strengthening our partnership with AFSM in AFRO.
Thank you.