Manila, Oct 10 (IANS): World Health Organization (WHO) regional committee for the Western Pacific region opened its annual meeting in Manila on Monday to discuss progress on public heath priorities in the region, including dengue, malaria, HIV, and sexually transmitted diseases.

The regional committee said in a statement the five-day meeting will also tackle environmental health, the sustainable development goals, the Asia Pacific Strategy for Emerging Diseases and Public Health Emergencies, Xinhua news agency reported.

The meeting hopes to formulate policies to support western Pacific countries combat the diseases in a bid to sustain the WHO goals.

At the meeting, the statement said "progress report on HIV and sexually transmitted infections, expanded program on immunisation, disability prevention and rehabilitation including blindness" will also be discussed.

"Regional action plan for healthy newborn infants, anti-microbial resistance and essential medicines" are also among the health topics for discussions on the table, the statement said.

The meeting this week in the 67th session of the regional committee, WHO's governing body for the western Pacific region.

The committee consists of representatives from the region's member states and associate members who meet annually.