MoPH aims at building sustainable projects

Minister of Public Health H E Dr. Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari said that based on Qatar’s National Vision 2030, the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) and its partners are working to build sustainable projects that will contribute to a long-term healthy life for current and future generations.

Her Excellency explained that the symposium covers two national priorities in the National Health Strategy 2018-2022; ‘Health in All Policies’ and ‘Healthy Children and Adolescents’. She noted that Qatar is seeking to acquire the World Health Organisation (WHO) Healthy City Accreditation by 2022 which will provide sustainable and healthier options for the population, especially children.

She stressed that the implementation of the Healthy Cities approach aims to ensure that there are appropriate environments in the cities of Qatar that support and promote health. She also stressed on the critical importance of promoting joint work with all MoPH’s partners from different sectors to achieve this goal.

During the ceremony, a short film, produced especially for the event by Qatar Foundation, was screened showing the most important sustainable benefits of a healthy city for children, in which a number of young stars from Qatar Academy schools embodied the vision of a healthy city and the benefits to be achieved for generations to come.

In the opening speech, Dr. Salih Ali Al Marri, Assistant Minister for Health Affairs at the Ministry of Public Health, said that the contribution of medical care to better health outcomes is about (10 to 20%) and the remaining 80-90% is determined by health-related, socio-economic and environmental factors.

Dr. Al-Marri noted that the National Health Strategy has identified ‘Health in All Policies’ as a national health priority and has developed concrete plans and objectives to ensure an intersectoral collaborative approach to improving health and equity for Qatar’s population.

Dr. Al Marri also maintained that obesity is a local and global problem that that calls for intensifying efforts in Qatar to combat it, especially among children, adding that combating obesity requires a complex mix of policies to be put in place, as well as the strong collaboration between different sectors in the country.

He reviewed number of significant achievements in this regard, such as the recently-introduced excise duty on carbonated drinks, the echo school scheme, the establishment of Musheireb city and the Qatar Railways Company (Qatar Rail) with its sustainable solutions.

Sultana Afdal, CEO of the World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH), explained that based on WISH’s vision of creating a healthier world by promoting global collaboration, it is important that people from across different sectors work together.

Dr. Sadria Al-Kohji, priority leader of ‘Healthy Children and Adolescents’ in the National Health Strategy, explained that childhood obesity is one of the main challenges facing Qatar, with statistics showing that 18.8% of males and 15.5% of females under 20 suffer from obesity.