On 24th September 2020, Kerala won the UN Interagency Task Force (UNIATF)Award 2020 for its contribution towards the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) related to the non-communicable diseases. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of World Health Organisation (WHO) announced the annual UNIATF Award for the year 2020 on prevention and control of non-communicable diseases.
This is the first time for Kerala to be recognised by this annual UN Award and along with Kerala 6 other health ministries across the globe have won the 2020 UNIATF Award.
About UNIATF Award 2020:
The 2020 award recognises the contributions and achievements of the year 2019 on the multisectoral actions in the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases, Mental Health and other SDGs related to non-communicable diseases.
Key Points:
i.UNIATF Award 2020 recognised Kerala’s lifestyle Disease control mechanism, in which the government established basic health centres to hospitals at all levels to treat the lifestyle diseases and the treatment and free service provided to the larger section of the population.
ii.The award also recognised the state of the art lung disease control program, cancer treatment program and paralysis control programme of the state.
Other winners:
- The NCD Division of the Federal Ministry of Health, Nigeria.
- Health Directorate, St. Helena
- Secretariat of Health, Mexico
- Ministry of Health, Armenia
- Ministry of Health, Russia
- Department of Health and Social Care, United Kingdom
Recent Related News:
i.The World Health Organization(WHO) has accorded the World No Tobacco Day Award 2020 to Socio-Economic and Educational Development Society(SEEDS), an Indian non – governmental organization(NGO), one among the 3 SouthEast Asian Region awardees, for its efforts to ban pan masala, gutkha, e-cigarettes and hookah in Bihar and Jharkhand.
ii.The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Head of Mission and Force Commander Major General Stefano Del Col awarded the annual environment awards of UNIFIL to 7 mission entities. An Indian Battalion (INDBATT) stationed with UNIFIL is declared first for environmental contributions.
About Kerala:
Chief Minister– Pinarayi Vijayan
UNESCO Heritage sites– Silent Valley National Park, Karian Shola (part of Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary), Eravikulam National Park, Achankovil Forest Division, Shendurney Wildlife Sanctuary
About World Health Organisation (WHO):
Director General– Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
Headquarters– Geneva, Switzerland
