The East, Central and Southern Africa Health Community (ECSA-HC) launched its 13th Best Practice Forum in Maseru, Lesotho.

ECSA-HC in collaboration with the Ministry of Health in Lesotho has launch the 13^th Best Practice Forum and 29^th Directors Joint Consultative Committee meeting here in Lesotho, Maseru. This forum provides a platform for the sharing of best practices and experiences in the health sector among ECSA-HC member states and the region. The aim is to improve health outcomes by promoting the exchange of ideas, knowledge, and experiences, and by fostering collaboration and cooperation among member countries. The 13th Best Practice Forum in Maseru, Lesotho is a significant event for the ECSA-HC region and will contribute to the improvement of health systems and services.

The Pre-conference which is preceding the 71^st Health ministers conference is expected to take place between 5^th-7^th February 2023. The conference has brought together prominent officials from the ministry of health in the nine member states countries, Experts, Researchers, Heads of Health Training Institutions, and diverse Collaborating Partners in the region and beyond. The BPF and DJCC Conference shall identify relevant health policy issues and making recommendations to the Health Ministers Conference, towards the improvement of health programming and outcomes in the region. The meeting received opening remarks from ECSA-HC director general Prof. Yoswa Dambisya where he alluded on the need for regional collaboration between the ECSA Countries to tackle and respond to health issues in the region. “ COVID-19 has showed us we cannot operate in isolation, we have to work collaboratively to mitigate  any threats and future pandemics” The theme of this year Best practice forum being Stronger health system post COVID-19 for attainment of universal health coverage in the ECSA Region the Director General on behalf of the secretariat expressed his gratitude on who the member states have shown interest and responded to joining the efforts of shaping the agenda to health responses in the region.

This was complimented by Dr. Richard Banda from WHO Lesotho in his opening remarks where he pointed out that as a region, we still have a lot to prepare for future pandemics as the COVID-19 is surely not the last and measures are needed to be put in place. The WHO has recently assessed recommendations from multiple reviews on the future of preparedness and responses to pandemics and other health emergencies, based on this analysis the WHO has made proposals for strengthening the global architecture for the health emergence preparedness, response and resilience said Dr. Richard Banda. The WHO shall continue to support countries to expand access to essential medicines, which is a pillar of universal health coverage.

The conference was officially inaugurated by the Principal Secretary, Ministry of Health, Kingdom of Lesotho, Ms Maneno Ntene who complimented the efforts of ECSA-HC as a regional body in the efforts of strengthening regional health” I am gratified that at the regional level ECSA Health Community continues to be an effective regional body that gets us together and reminds us of our obligations to uplift the standard of health for our people in the region. Indeed, this Forum provides an opportunity to evaluate the evidence that is presented to us and consider how it could be used to inform policy and programming. I therefore, encourage our scientists and experts as well as policymakers present here to bridge the gap between evidence and policy so that we implement relevant and effective interventions that would be beneficial to our peoples and result in significant health gains.”

During day one of the conference received three plenary sessions that focused on.

• Country and regional responses to covid-19: challenges, lessons, and opportunities
• Strengthening systems for the prevention Preparedness, detection of and response to emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases.
• Consolidating Sustainable local solutions for Human Resources for Health

Among the keynote speakers was Dr. David Okello from ACHEST Uganda who shared the country’s successful response to COVID-19 through a Community Engagement approach. The approach involved creating village task forces in all districts, led by local leaders, cultural leaders, women’s groups, opinion leaders, and religious leaders, who met weekly to discuss health issues. This approach resulted in increased home-based care, improved trust within communities and health facilities, reduced hygiene-related diseases, and increased male involvement in antenatal care.

The Best Practices Forum is expected to generate recommendations that are to be further be deliberated during the Directors Joint consultative Committee meeting and later on be adopted by the Health Ministers during the Health Ministers Conference on the 8^th and 9^th February 2023.