Malta has been nominated to chair the WHO Small Countries Health Information Network (SCHIN) for the next two years.

The decision came following a technical workshop held in Malta this week with the participation of small states.

The first ever SCHIN meeting was attended by the Director of WHO Regional Office Europe, Claudia Stein, who addressed the delegates on the importance of small states having a united front and a common voice on issues that are of common concern to all.

“It is imperative that you collect data and share information among you in order to establish the best healthcare services and policies. Under the leadership of the Maltese Ministry for Health, we are pleased to have established this network which is going to put the small countries on the bigger map of healthcare.”

Parliamentary Secretary for Health Chris Fearne highlighted several factors that small nations like Malta could take advantage of through this initiative.

“One of the biggest advantages for the SCHIN group is our collective participation in international fora, including meetings of the World Health Organisation. Collectively, we represent some three million people and hence our say will carry more weight than standing on our own as individual countries. A case in point could be our leverage with the pharmaceutical industry.”

Mr Fearne spoke about the importance of data collection and highlighted the fact that larger countries have thousands of people working in gathering health data, whilst in smaller countries this, more often than not, had to be done by just a couple of individuals.