Saarc health ministers discuss pandemic challenge.

ISLAMABAD -- A meeting of health ministers of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) countries on ThursAday discussed the issue of the Covid-19 pandemic and ways to promote deeper cooperation among member states to combat the deadly disease.

The meeting, held throAugh video link, was chaAirAed by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Zafar Mirza. It was part of Pakistan's effAorts to foster greater cooperation at the regional level to fight the major public health crisis and to mitigate its socioeconomic impacts on peoples of countries of the region.

The virtual meeting took forward Pakistan's earlier initiative to host the Saarc health ministers' meeting, which assumed urgency because of the grave threat posed to the peoples' lives by Covid-19.

In addition to exchanging updates on the status of natAional containment efforts, the Saarc conference discussed ways to promote deeper cooperation to combat the pandemic, including through strengthening disease surveillance, sharing best practices, building national capacities, coordinating research efforts and promoting regional and international linkages.

The high population...