By IANS,
New Delhi : World Health Organisation’s (WHO) representatives from the Southeast Asian region Wednesday paid a tribute to those who lost their lives in the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan last week.
“Japan is braving a difficult phase, and its people will stand together in this tough time,” a representative on behalf of Yohei Sasakawa, chairman of the Nippon Foundation from Japan, said at WHO’s partners-in-health conference.
Sasakawa, the WHO goodwill ambassador for leprosy elimination, Japan, could not take part in the three-day conference due to the heavy devastation caused by the magnitude-9 earthquake that struck Japan March 11.
Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who inaugurated the conference, said: “We empathise with a sense of loss that Japan is facing. We are with the people of Japan, and are sure they will come back from the nuclear crisis.”
The March 16-18 conference for Southeast Asian regions aims at strengthening collaboration for health and encouraging effective and sustainable partnerships on issues such as millennium development goals, non-communicable diseases, and access to health services.