Harare 19 Feb. 2014 -- A Social Determinants of Health Working Group Orientation Meeting was held in Harare. The meeting, which was attended by Focal Persons from 10 ministries in the Govern-ment of Zimbabwe, including the Office of the Presi-dent and Cabinet and the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC), marks the birth of the Social Determinants of Health Working Group.

The main objective of the meeting was to orient the newly established Social Determinants of Health (SDH) Working Group on the SDH and Health in All Poli-cies (HiAP) approaches. The MoHCC convened the meeting with technical and financial support from WHO Zimbabwe.

Remarks were made by the WHO Representative, Dr David Okello; the Director of Epidemiology and Disease Control in MoHCC, Dr Portia Manangazira ; the Health Promotion Focal Person in the WHO IST/ESA Mrs Odette Cossa, who gave gave a presentation on the SDH and HiAP approaches; and the Deputy Director Health Promotion in MoHCC Mr Samuel Tsoka who gave a presenta-tion on the progress in implementing a SDH approach in Zimbabwe.

In his remarks, Dr Okello noted that addressing the social determinants of health is essential if the health targets set in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are to be achieved in the African Region. He also noted that Zimba-bwe had lost momentum in driving the agenda on Social Determinants of Health since the National Stakeholders Workshop on Key Determinants of Health held in June 2011, as a build up to the Rio Summit on Social Determi-nants of Health. He however, also noted that the meeting presented an opportune moment to revive the agenda on Social Determinants of Health. “Some of the key determinants in Zimbabwe relate with health risk factors such as tobacco use, harmful use of alcohol and consumption of unhealthy diets.” said Dr Okello. To this effect, he fur-ther noted the importance of regulating industry, in particular the marketing and advertising of tobacco products, alcohol and unhealthy foods – in particular the fast foods industry. “There is need for a concerted multi-sectoral ap-proach towards the prevention of Road traffic injuries.” added Dr Okello. He went on to reaffirm WHO’s commitment and support to the process, as the country moves the SDH agenda forward.

In her closing remarks, Dr Portia Manangazira reiterated the importance of addressing Social Determinants of Health and MoHCC’s commitment to addressing SDH. She also noted that the SDH Working Group has a huge responsibility of advancing the health of the nation, and should be resilient as it stirs the SDH agenda forward.

The working group which is inspired by the work of the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health (2005-2008), will highlight issues of Social Determinants of Health, identify relevant stakeholders and their roles, and en-sure that there is deliberate effort to articulate Health in All Policies (HiAP) in Zimbabwe.

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