Health and conservation organisations are meeting in Antananarivo this week with representatives of several Ministries in order to advance intersectoral partnerships with the aim of improving the health of Madagascar’s people and ecosystems.
Following the creation of numerous interdisciplinary collaborations over the last 2-3 years – collaborations which increase access to health services for remote communities while supporting natural resource management efforts in biodiverse zones – more than 20 NGOs are meeting this week with representatives of four Ministries and USAID Madagascar in order to share their experiences and train each other in cross-sector working.
Through a four-day workshop organised by the Madagascar Population-Health-Environment (PHE) Network, these organisations along with the Ministry of Public Health and the Ministry of Environment, Ecology, Sea and Forests will equip each other with the competencies needed to develop effective partnerships. Technical sessions will therefore include training in health for environmental outreach workers and training in natural resource management for community health agents so that they can collaborate to advance shared objectives relating to sustainable development.
Nantenaina Andriamalala, Outreach Officer for the Madagascar PHE Network, comments: “This workshop is extremely timely in light of the recent announcement of the Global Goals for Sustainable Development. The Population-Health-Environment approach offers an ideal framework for achieving health and environmental outcomes, particularly in the most under-served and ecologically sensitive zones in Madagascar. Such an interdisciplinary model requires the mobilisation and engagement of diverse actors, which is why we’re all coming together this week and hoping to see many new intersectoral partnerships arising from this workshop!”