The Technical Secretariat of the Council of Arab Ministers of Health held the 13th meeting of the Council's Technical Advisory Committee, Thursday at the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States.
The meeting comes within the framework of preparation for the work of the 59th regular session of the Council of Arab Ministers of Health and its executive office, which are scheduled to be held during the period from 19 to 20 May in Geneva, on the sidelines of the 76th World Health Assembly to be held in Geneva, on 2130 May 2023.
Arab League's Assistant Secretary General and head of social affairs sector Ambassador Dr. Haifa Abu Ghazaleh stated that the meeting discussed a number of important health issues, including the health conditions in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem and the occupied Syrian Golan, which is a permanent item within the framework of the issues included in the Council of Arab Ministers of Health, in addition to the unified speech of the Council of Arab Ministers of Health before the 76th session of the General Assembly of the World Health Organization, which will be delivered by the Yemeni Minister of Health, as well as organizing an Arab-German conference and exhibition for pharmaceutical industries and medical supplies, which will be hosted by the Kingdom of Bahrain.
She added that in light of the urgent humanitarian developments of the Arab countries, the issue of Arab coordination for relief and health humanitarian developments will be presented to the Arab ministers of health. The committee will also discuss the special strategy to improve the health of mothers, children and adolescent girls in the Arab region, and the health of Arab women to come up with an action plan.
She indicated that the 59th session of the Council of Arab Ministers of Health will witness the launch of the Arab strategy for a health-friendly budget, which is a reference for the Arab countries to develop health budgets that are more responsive and flexible to the needs of their populations. She pointed out that the Coronavirus pandemic has highlighted that the current public financial management systems still constitute an obstacle to progress towards universal health coverage, consequently, Arab countries will need to strengthen their public financial management systems to advance towards universal health coverage, in addition to discussing the item on forming the Executive Office of the Council of Arab Ministers of Health.
Source: Qatar News Agency