Two-day international health conference kicks off in Yerevan
A two-day international ministerial health conference called 'Public Health- New Challenges' has kicked off today in Armenia having brought to the capital Yerevan ministers and deputy health ministers of Russia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Iran.
In his opening remarks Armenia's health minister Armen Muradyan said 40 million people die every year in the world from non-infectious diseases.
Greeting the participants of the conference, Armenian prime minister Hovik Abrahamyan noted that health is declared a priority of the government of Armenia.
According to him, health funding is increasing every year, "as it is the healthy population that ensures the development of the country."
Minister Muradyan, in turn, recalled that it has been two years since the government started unprecedented large-scale screening, preventive and vaccination programs.
He recalled also that the struggle against smoking kicked off in 2004 along with adoption of a relevant law.
According to Muradyan, more than 80% of deaths in Armenia are caused by cardiovascular, oncological diseases and diabetes.
The 2016 budget of the Armenian government has earmarked 86.1 billion drams for the health sector, a 2.1% rise from 2015 funding.-0-