WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION
ORGANISATION MONDIALE DE LA SANT~
REGIONAL OFFICE FOR THE WESTERN PACIFIC BUREAU REGIONAL DU PACIFIQUE OCCIDENTAL
REGIONAL CC»UTl'EE
TECHNICAL DISCUSSIONS WP/RC15/TfJ2 8 J1.me 1964 ORIGINAL:
Fifteenth Session Manila 17-22 September 1964
ENGLISH
PROCEDURES AND TECHNIQUES FOR THE TECHNICAL DISCUSSIONS
The theme for the Technical Discussions of the fifteenth session of the Western Pacific Regional Committee is: "The Use of Statistics in Public Health Administration" This subject was selected by the Committee at its fourteenth session. Working ~apers have been prepared and are presented in documents WP/RC15/TD4, WP/RC15/TD5, WP/RCl5/TD6 and WP/RC15/TD7. 1. PROCEDURFS
1.1
Pattern
The procedural pattern for the Technical Discussions this year will include both plenary sessions and discussion groups. A programme giving details of each of the sessions planned is contained in document WP/RC15/TD1. All sessions of the Technical Discussions will be held in the WHO Conference Hall. The room assignments for the group sessions will be anno1.mced at the start of the Regional Committee meeting. Reports and presentations At the conclusion of each period of discussion in plenary and group meetings, the rapporteurs will submit a brief written report on the deliberations to the Secretary of the Technical Discussions. This report may include any recommendations that participants would like to have considered during the final session of the Technical Discussions.
WP/RCl5/TJY2. page 2 1.2 First session
The first session, which will be a plenary session lasting approxillla.tely three hours, wi 11 be divided into three parts. (a) After the Chairman of the Technical Discussions has opened the session and explained the procedures and techniques to be used during the discussions, there will be a presentation of the topic "Statistics required for public health administration". (b) Panel presentation - Following a brief period of open discussion, the meeting will be handed over to a panel of several persons 'Who, with the Chairman as moderator, will summarize, amplify and generally discuss the topic "The use of statistics in public health administration". The panel members will, of course_ discuss this topic in relation to practice in their home countries. (c) Open discussion - Following the panel presentation, partiCipants will be invited to direct questions, comments and observations to the panel members. 1.3 Second session
This session will be devoted to group discussions and will last approxillla.tely two and one-half hours. 1.4 Third session
The final session will be conducted as a GENERAL session, and the first portion will be devoted to the presentation of the reports of each of the discussion groups. Each presentation will be followed by an open discussion. The meeting will next engage in a general consideration of the group reports as a 'Whole with a view to consolidating the ideas presented and to reaching agreement on the drafting of conclusions. Evaluation of the Technical Discussions will be the next part of the session. Participants will be invited to fill out an individual questionnaire 'Which will be distributed at this time. 2. TECHNIQUES
2.1
Open discussions
In an effort to make full use of the experience and collective wisdom available, a free exchange of ideas and information will be encouraged.
WP/RCl5/Tff2 page; 2.2 Group discussions
In an effort to facilitate the exchange of ideas and information and to encourage an informal atmosphere during the Technical Discussions, representatives will be divided into three discussion groups. As far as possible each discussion group will be of the same size and representatives from the same country or territory will be placed in different groups. An exception to this will be that one group will be French-speaking. This does not mean, however, that all French-speaking representatives will be placed in this group. Those having a facility in English mB¥ be assigned to another group while English-speaking representatives with some facilit,y in French may be placed in the French-spealdng group. A discussion leader will be selected by the Chairman of the Technical Discussions for each of the discussion groups, but each group will be asked to select its own rapporteur. 2.3 Co-ordination Committee the Chairman of committee. This Discussions, one of the Secretariat.
In the interest of efficiency and co-ordination, the Technical Discussions will organize a co-ordination committee will consist of the Chairman of the Technical or more panel partiCipants, the rapporteurs and members
Meetings of this committee will be called shortly before the Technical Discussions begin. This committee will also be asked to meet after the Technical Discussions are over to consider the results of the eValuation questionnaire and make suggestions for improving subsequent Technical Discussions. The time and place of these meetings will be announced.
2.4
Languages
The working languages of the Technical DiSCUSSions are the same as those of the Regional Committee, i.e. English and French. 2.5 Evaluation
A part of the third and last session will be devoted to the evaluation of the Technical DiSCUSSions. The purpose of this evaluation will be to appraise the effectiveness of the discussions as well as the techniques used and to gather suggestions for imprOving the discussions in the future. 2.6 Recording and final report
The proceedings of both general seSSions, together with the summary of the discussion group reports, will be prepared as a final report of the Technical Discussions. The report will be presented by the Chairman of the Technical Discussions to the Regional Committee and will form an annex to the Committee report.