Ahmed Shaaban (Cairo)
Today, Thursday, the United Arab Emirates participated in the work of the 56th session of the Council of Arab Health Ministers, headed by Algeria and with the participation of Arab health ministers and their representatives, at the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States.
The state delegation was headed by Abdul Rahman bin Muhammad Al Owais, Minister of Health and Community Protection, with the membership of Dr. Hussain Muhammad Abdul Rahman Al Rand, Assistant Undersecretary for the Public Health Sector, Nasser Khalifa Al Badour, Assistant Undersecretary for Foreign Relations and Health Affairs, Badr Al Ali, Director of the Minister’s Office, and Fadl Salem Al Badi. health supplement.
In its meeting, the Council of Arab Health Ministers discussed a number of important health issues, foremost of which are the new developments of the emerging corona virus and the response of member states in addressing the pandemic.
The council also discussed the report and recommendations of the advisory technical committees emanating from the council, and reviewed the activities of the technical secretariat of the Council of Arab Health Ministers between the Council’s 54 regular sessions in March 2021 and 56 in March 2022.
The council also reviewed a number of important strategies for adoption by the council in this session: the Arab strategy project to standardize the procedures for registering and approving vaccinations and their use within the Arab countries, the Arab strategy project for obtaining corona vaccines, and unifying the efforts made to ensure the provision and equitable distribution of vaccines to the Arab countries.
The Council presented the Arab general principles for unifying procedures for the registration and approval of vaccines and their use among the Arab countries, on which a decision was taken by the Economic and Social Council at its 108th regular session on September 2, 2021.
The Ministerial Council also discussed the unified speech of the Council of Arab Health Ministers to be delivered by the Mauritanian Minister of Health before the General Assembly of the World Health Organization in Geneva in May 2022, in addition to the issues of unifying Arab efforts to combat drugs, and activating the meeting of the highest Arab bodies for medicine and food.
Among the topics that were also discussed were the Arab Center for Authorship and Translation of Health Sciences, the Arab Fund for Health Development, and the legal status of the Arab Council for Health Specializations in light of the decisions issued by the Economic and Social Council and its subordination to the Council of Arab Health Ministers.
During the meeting, the Arab Doctor Award for the year 2022 was announced, the winning doctors were honored, and the successful health experiences of the Arab member states were heard.
The Ministerial Council discussed the initiative to establish an Arab Center for Epidemic Control and the Arab Center for Health and Laboratory Research, in addition to the proposal of the Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population regarding the establishment of the Arab Drug Agency.
The Council also discussed Arab-American cooperation in the health field within the framework of activating the memorandum of understanding signed between the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States and the US Department of State, with the participation of the Deputy Minister of Health and Human Services in the United States of America via video conference technology.
During his speech at the opening session of the meeting, the Algerian Minister of Health, Dr. Abdelrahman Benbouzid, invited the heads of delegations in this session to study the proposal to establish a specialized Arab organization dealing with health matters under the name of the Arab Health Organization, stressing that the Secretary-General of the Arab League considers that the establishment of a specialized Arab organization is concerned with health matters. Such a body constitutes an appropriate platform for a collective Arab launch, in coordinating policies and improving performance in the health fields in general.
Bouzid stressed that thinking about the establishment of this organization in light of the health conditions caused by the Corona virus and after this epidemic, has become a necessity to take care of public health in our countries and to ensure coordination in prevention and health cooperation in general.
During its eleventh meeting, which was held on the sidelines of the 56th session of the Arab League Council at the ministerial level, the Executive Office of the Council of Arab Health Ministers recommended advancing joint Arab efforts towards approving the Arab strategy to standardize procedures for registration and approval of vaccines and their use within Arab countries.
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