The WCC held the 1st consultative meeting on ecumenical global health strategy in Maseru, Lesotho on 27 February 2017. A second consultation takes place in Geneva on 24 May, to reinforce the unique contribution of the ecumenical movement to global health issues, and to strengthen the coherence of the ecumenical global health strategy being developed.
Working as a medical doctor in his home country Malawi seems to have given Dr Mwai Makoka ideal experience for his task of programme executive for Health and Healing at the WCC. He has experience in medical microbiology, HIV and AIDS, working for both government and church-based institutions after graduating as a doctor in Malawi, a country accustomed to working with church-run hospitals.
“How can we work together, to share what it is in our hands, share the work that is before us? How can we empower one another, capacity-build our religious leaders and mobilize our congregations, to be more proactive in health-promoting issues?”
“So much has changed, and yet so much remains the same. Global public health structures have changed, yet gross inequalities still exist – between developed and under-developed countries, between rich and poor, and the vision for equitable health care still lies in the far distance. Primary health care remains a task unfinished.”
„Die Umsetzung der nachhaltigen Entwicklungsziele sollte nach Überzeugung des Ökumenischen Rates der Kirchen ein Anlass für die Kirche sein, ihre seit Jahrhunderten wahrgenommene Aufgabe als führende Institution zu bekräftigen, die sich auf globaler Ebene um Gesundheitsfragen kümmert und Initiativen für Gesundheit und Heilung für alle zusammenführt", sagt Dr. Mwai Makoka, ÖRK-Programmreferent für Gesundheit und Heilung.
“Standing at the threshold of the Sustainable Development Goals, the WCC believes it is time for the church to reaffirm the role it has played over centuries as leader in global health, and to consolidate efforts towards health and healing for all,” says Dr Mwai Makoka, WCC programme executive for Health and Healing. Meeting in Maseru, Lesotho, on 27 February, the WCC is starting the process of developing a Global Ecumenical Health Strategy, following the legacy of churches’ high profile in health care and mission historically.
At the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Lesotho Evangelical Church, a WCC member church, WCC’s associate general secretary Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri expressed her deep admiration for its missionary legacy and its “clear witness for God”.
