Seychelles and the World Health Organisation (WHO) will explore areas the organisation can help in prevention and communication in the fight against substance abuse.

The statement was made by the regional director of the WHO, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, after a meeting with Seychelles' President Wavel Ramkalawan at State House on Tuesday.

Dr Moeti is in Seychelles attending a meeting of ministers of health from small island developing states (SIDS) of the WHO in the African region. The meeting is focused on SIDS' progress in achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), preparedness for the next pandemic, and climate and health.

"We talked about universal health coverage, so generally how to ensure that everybody in the population whatever may be his or her economic status has access to the health services that they need and very importantly and have information on interventions that can help them and to preserve good health," Moeti told reporters.

She said that in her discussion with the head of state, it was revealed that the government is interested in addressing certain health issues such as obesity but also the issue of substance abuse.

"Alcohol is a big issue for the government and it is working on that and that is an issue that is a growing problem in other countries of the region," said Moeti.

She also had the chance to take part in a walk held on the Beau Vallon beach in the north of Mahe, the main island, on Sunday as part of the ongoing anti-obesity campaign of the Ministry of Health.

Discussions also touched on climate change, and Moeti said, "It is very important to a country like Seychelles the direct interest of the government to make sure that the country gets engaged in global discussions and hopefully benefits from some of the experience and some of the financing that could be available for climate change."

The subject of mental health emerging in the world was also discussed and the regional director said, "I think COVID-19 made that worse and made us even more aware about it."

Pandemic preparedness was also raised and Moetis explained that "We are just emerging from a major pandemic of COVID-19 and the whole world is talking about being better prepared together for the next pandemic."

She added that the WHO is coordinating the conversation among the member states about how "they will agree, how they will pool resources where possible and how they will have the same procedures when having an outbreak which could become a pandemic."

This will also include sharing information, and available commodities and acting as one global community to prevent the spread of diseases including those that can turn into a pandemic.

Moeti commended Seychelles for having a ministry that deals with family, as it encompasses the work of many other ministries and it also deals with families, which is where children are raised.

She reaffirmed WHO's support to a country that is doing quite a lot itself in improving the health of its population and said that the organisation was quite satisfied with the way Seychelles uses the  WHO funding it has received.