WORLD HEAL TH ORGANIZATION REGIONAL COMMITTEE Seventh Ses sion Manila 7-13 Septembcr 1956 Agenda Item 18
REGIONAL OFFICE FOR THE WESTERN PACIFIC WP/RC7/13 4 May 1956 ORIGINAL: ENGLISH
REVIEW OF TECHNICAL DISCUSSIONS AT MEETINGS OF THE REGlONAL COMMITTEE FOR THE WESTERN PACIFIC This seventh session of the Regional Committee for the Western Pacific marks the fifth consecutive year that technical discussions have been held as part of the agenda of the meeting. In order to assist the Committee in its consideration of future technical discussions, the following summary of past technical discussions is presented: 1. ORGANIZATION llND PLACE OF TECHNICAL DISCUSSIONS DURING REGIONAL COMMITTEE MEETINGS
The Executive Board at its eighth session considered the question of technical discussions bascd on experience gained during the Fourth Health Assembly and adopted a resolution,l section three of which was as follows: liThe Executive Board, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
INVITES the regional committees to consider the advisability of holding technical discussions on matters of regional interest;
............................................................................ " This resolution was considered by tho RegionQl Committee for the Western Pacific at its second session and the following res lution W~3 adopted: 2 "The Regional Committee, DECIDES to hold technical discussions in conjunction with its next Session on the subject: The Education and Training of Medical and Public Health Personnel •
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As a result of the technical discussions held during the third session, the Regional Committee resolved II • • • • that Technical Discussions be a part of the Agenda in future sessions of the Regional COmmittee".3
~esolution EB8.R24, Off. Rec. WId Hlth Org. 36, 7 2aesolution WP/RC2/R5 3Resolution WP/RC3/RI4
WP/Rc7/18 Page 2 2. SUBJ1lX:: T MA T'IER OF THE TECHNICAL DISCUSSIONS
With the exception of the first topic, the subjects selected have, in accordance with the suggestion of the Executive Board,l been'on matters of regional interest. It is worthy of note that this is in keeping with the atti tude an:! procedure of too committees of four other regions who have expressed the view that they should retain their freedom to select topics of more specific regional interest in their technical disoussions. 2
The procedure employed by the Regional Committee for the selection of technical. discussion topics has been for the Committee to choose the topic for the next session at too end of each session. '!he need to establish aontinui-w in the subjects seleoted for the technical disoussions has been frequently mentioned by participants.
3.
PREPARATION AND ORGANIZATION OF THE '1ECHNICAL DISCUSSIONS
In order to meet the request of the Committee at its second session that the Regional Director should -in consultation with governments prepare an agenda and collect preparatory data and information",) a working committee under tm leadership of the Regional Direotor, and composed of members of the Secretariat, has been fonned. '!he membership of this committee ms varied very little in the past four years and its duties have been the following: a. To arrange fer experts (using those wi thin the Region whenever possible) to prepare basic papers in advance for tre benefit of the partiCipants, as well as occasionally to request Member States to prepare reports with a bearing on the topic under consideration; To eon tae t and to arrange for experts to present ma terial during the discussions and to participate as resource people in the discussions; 'lb prepare the agenda and to design the appropriate procedural framework best suited to ensure the greatest possible opportunity for exchange of views among the participants;
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To provide for documentation as a basis for the discussion for distribution to participants and Member states; To arrange for the participants to apprai se tre discussions in order to improve the mechanics of the discussions from year to year.
lResolution ZB8.i=.24, Ofr .Rec. 1;lld iUth Org. 36, 7 2 ' Unrmbli'shed document EB1S/39 3Resolution WP/RC2/R5
WP/rw7/18 Page .3
4.
METHOD OF CONDOOT OF TIm 'lECHNICAL DISCUSSIOtS
Apart from the first technical discussions high priority has been given in all cases to the employment· of those educational methods which will encoura.ge maximum participation. The pattern which has, therefore, been developed is as follows. a short introduc tory session where the participants are given, by means of either a panel, role playing and lectures, draw plan, etc., information calculated to serve as a point of departure for the discussions~ The participants are then divided into small discussion groups (12-15 persons) where they are free to discuss the subject in any way they desire. '!he technical discussions us~ end with a general session where the findings of each small discussion group are reported and discussed, the topic for the following year's technioaldisoussions considered and an evaluation of the technical discussions made. The Chairman of the Regional Committee each year appoints at the start of the meeting a chairman or moderator for the technical disoussions. Discussion leaders and rapporteurs for eaoh sm'lll discussion group are selected from among the participm ts and the Secretariat of WPRO takes over responsibility for the documentation of the discussions under the supervision of the technical discussions chainnan. Offioial observers to the Regional Committee are invited to participate in all aspects of the discussions including the small discussion groups.
Although it seems generally recognized that the disoussions might be oonsiderably improved if Member States included among their representatives technical personnel in the field of the topic being discussed, no oountry or territory to date has so far been able to meet the resolution passed during the second session of the Committee, section 3 of which urged '!Member GoverINnents to include in their delegations teohnical personnel. on the subject to be discussed".l
5.
TIME AU.O T'mD FOR THE mcHNICAL DISC USS IONS
No guidaroe has been given by the Regional Committee ooncerning the time to be allotted to the disoussions. At the first technioal discussions, the group discussion teohnique was not used. However, as far as the following four technical discussions, including this year t s session, are conoerned, nine hours have been given to each of three sessions and twelve hours to one session. From the point of view of effective procedure, it has been considered ulldse to use less than nine hours for the discussions. On the other hand, the twelve-hour period is not considered too long in terms of the disoussions themselves, but when oonsidered in the light of the entire Regional Committee 1-1eeting adjustments may be necessary.
lRes~lution WP!RC2!R5
WP/Rc7/18 Page
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6.
VALUE OF THE 'lECHNICAL DISCUSSIONS
As mentioned in section 3 above, the participants have been asked to evaluate the technical discussions at the end of the past three discussions. The following is a s\BTIlIlary of the main points made: a. Opinion is almost unanimous that the technical discussions have provided an excellent way for exchanging ideas and views on technical matters in an informal and effective manner. With few exceptions, the participants felt that the teohnical discussions provided them with ample opportuni~ for participation and expansion of their own ideas. '!he methods and techniques used for discussions were approved and liked by a large majorit.1 of the participants. Suggestions have been frequently made that th3 discussions be more practical in m ture • On two occasions the treatment of the topjJ} was considered too broad by a majority of the participants. It has been brought out frequentq that while the participants gained many new and useful ideas and concepts from the technical discussions there was not time to solve sp:3cifio problems satisfactorily. For the first tune at the last technical discussions, individual participants were asked to fill out an unsigned questionnaire covering the discussions of that session. The following opinion was revealed towards the discussions as a whole: Excellent Very good Reasonably good Mediocre Poor
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