Health Minister Dr Jamal Al-Harbi

ISLAMABAD: Kuwait is committed to global health and humanitarian relief efforts, Health Minister Jamal Al-Harbi told attendees of a World Health Organization (WHO) regional committee session yesterday. The minister stressed Kuwait's support for the integration of efforts to combat chronic diseases and detect cancer into national development plans with a focus on early detection.

This has been successfully implemented in Kuwait, he said, mentioning the United Nation's selection of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and Kuwait as a humanitarian global leader and international center, respectively. The Eastern Mediterranean region is the source of more than half of the displaced people and refugees in the world, he said at the 64th session of the WHO Regional Committee in Islamabad.

For this reason, he demanded further efforts to transform commitments into regional action plans to guide the modernization of health programs and expressed optimism for a better future despite the magnitude of the challenges. He also praised the efforts of the Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean to focus on health information systems and include key indicators to monitor progress towards achieving sustainable development goals, particularly on the basic indicators of member countries. Minister Harbi is amongst the high level representatives of 22 countries in WHO's Eastern Mediterranean region attending the event. - KUNA