She made the call inaugurating the 24th session of South East Asian Region (SEAR) Health Ministers and 59th session of WHO (World Health Organization) Regional Committee meeting for Southeast Asia at Dhaka Sheraton Hotel.

The health ministers' meeting will continue till August 21 while the Regional Committee meeting August 22-25, with the ministers, experts and international agencies brainstorming on ways of ensuring good health for all in this region.

Placing a few issues for consideration at the meetings, the prime minister said the developing countries need support in evolving new technologies and methods, particularly for making drugs available and affordable, at cheaper prices.

She also suggested developing a well-trained and dedicated public health workforce as the region's countries are faced with unprecedented threats from emergent infectious diseases and the growing burden of chronic diseases.

She named the diseases that have posed a threat to public health, such as avian influenza, dengue, HIV/AIDS, malaria, TB, and kala-azar.

The prime minister stressed an urgent need for devising affordable methods to contain these deadly diseases. "We also need to share best practices in the control of reemerging diseases like polio," she told the inaugural function.

Khaleda noted that poverty alleviation and resolving the problems of public health are two complementary tasks. "Poverty and ill-health are intertwined. We find that poor countries tend to have noticeably worse health outcomes than better-off countries. There still remain stark inequities in access to healthcare services within and among nations."

She told the health ministers, SEAR delegations and WHO executives that this critical issue needs to be resolved without delay. "We expect that your deliberations will produce solutions in this regard."

The PM suggested introducing innovative financing methods so that healthcare is affordable and within the reach of all households. "Poor people have to be empowered to enjoy access to modern healthcare systems, more so because ill-health accentuates poverty," she said.

She appreciated the report of the Commission on Intellectual Property Rights, Innovation and Public Health, recently published by the WHO, saying that it would go a long way in making good use of the flexibilities allowed under TRIPS.

The PM affirmed that Bangladesh, among other countries of this region, would support the World Alliance for Patient Safety initiative and be a part of the First Global Patient Safety Challenge.

She said the new theme 'clean care is safer care' would put together concerted efforts to promote the highest standards of practice and behaviour and, no doubt, reduce the risks of healthcare-associated infection.

Khaleda said Bangladesh's pharmaceutical manufacturing sector has grown remarkably and now exports medicines and vaccines to over 65 countries.

However, she noted, much more needs to be done by way of technology transfer and revision of patent laws to ensure cheap but high-quality medicines in developing countries.