The Launching of the second Health Sector Strategic Development Plan (HSSDPII) was held on 2 June 2017 at Orotta National Referral Hospital Conference Hall. The development of the HSSDP II for Eritrea for the period 2017-2021 was led by the Ministry of Health, with the participation of other Government Sectors, Partners and relevant stakeholders. In it’s formulation, recommendations from the mid-term review previously conducted on key achievements and challenges during the implementation of the HSSDP I and health sector situation analysis were used.
 
The main objective of the HSSDP II is to provide the medium term strategic directions for the health sector for the attainment of the Eritrean health aspirations, appropriate contribution to the national development and global health agenda. In that spirit, the launching ceremony brought together different stakeholders namely: MOH officials and members of the steering committee, UN Agencies, Civil Society Organizations, Orotta School of Medicine, line ministries, Zonal Medical Officers, PHARMECOR, College of Health Science, National Statistics Office, National Blood Transfusion Center, National and Zonal Referral Hospitals, who committed to maintaining their involvement as demonstrated during the development process of the HSSDP II during implementation.

The HSSDPII was officially launched by Her Excellency Ms Amina Nurhussen, Minister of Health. She congratulated those who have worked tirelessly to produce the Health Sector Strategic Development Plan II and thanked WHO for the commitment shown and support provided. Furthermore, she stressed the fact that this HSSDP II included the new strategic vision of Universal Health Coverage, addressing the unfinished targets of the MDGs as well as the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) targets. She underlined the concept of “All for Health, Health for All and hence, Health in All Policies.”
There were several presentations made mainly by Mr Tewelde Yohannes, Policy and Planning Division Director who presented the foundation of promoting the concept of “health in all policies”.  He highlighted the key areas of this strategy emphasizing the main shift from basic health care to essential health care. Furthermore, a presentation by Dr Andebrhan Tesfatsion, Director General of Public Health highlighted the SDGs as a foundation to actions outlined in the HSSDP II and therefore the need for a multi-sectoral approach to it’s implementation.

The WHO Representative to Eritrea, Dr Josephine Namboze congratulated the Ministry of Health for taking the lead and acknowledged partners involvement in the process. She specially thanked Her excellency Hon. Minister of Health Mrs Amina Nurhussien for creating an enabling environment and establishing a steering committee and various technical working groups who have worked tirelessly towards fulfilling the expectations. She emphasized that the launching event marked not only the official pronouncement of the document, but also calls and opens the door to start the journey for joint implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

The implementation of HSSDP II has started with individual Zoba operational planning which will be followed through in the next few months.