Bahrain wins major UN award

New York, Sept.27 (BNA) The Kingdom of Bahrain has won an outstanding United Nations award on Thursday. The Ministry of Health has been selected by for the United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force Award for its outstanding contribution to the achievement of sustainable development goals related to non-communicable diseases, and its great efforts and successive achievements to combat non-communicable diseases in effort to achieve the best standards of health, disease prevention and the health of citizens and residents of the Kingdom of Bahrain. The award was received, on Thursday, September 27, 2018 at the United Nations in New York, by Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Walid Al-Manea. Marking the occasion, Minister of Cabinet Affairs Mohammed bin Ibrahim Al Mutawa expressed his thanks and appreciation to the United Nations Organization for granting the Ministry of Health in the Kingdom of Bahrain this prestigious award as the first Gulf country to recognize its outstanding contribution to achieving sustainable development goals related to non-communicable diseases. He stressed that this award is an embodiment of the achievements of the Kingdom in the health field as a result of the commitment to the best health standards and the importance of ensuring high standards of health care services in a sustainable manner for citizens and residents as a fixed human right and advanced levels in human development. He also congratulated the Ministry of Health for achieving this remarkable achievement, which the Kingdom of Bahrain is very proud of and adds to the long series of international recognition and celebration of the Kingdom's achievements in this field, and stressed that the Kingdom of Bahrain will always support the efforts of the World Health Organization to combat chronic non-communicable diseases. “All plans and programs for the prevention of diseases are the attention and follow-up of the Government, which constantly directs the Ministry of Health to combat and cooperate with All organizations at the regional and international levels to find out about their latest developments and ways of combating them, Mr. Al Mutawa confirmed. He stressed the importance of supporting such programs, which have a major role in driving development, and focus on it through participation in the success of its objectives and commitment to ways to maintain health and prevention and avoid the risk factors, and the need for all sides to fight diseases, which is a challenge to development, in which all sectors of government, non-governmental organizations and civil society organizations, as well as members of society in all categories, are involved in dealing with non-communicable diseases. For her part, the Minister of Health, Faeqa bin Saeed Al Saleh said this award comes as a result of the sincere efforts of the non-communicable disease control team in the Ministry of Health and the relevant authorities in the Kingdom of Bahrain, to be the first Gulf country to win a United Nations team work award, access to the "unique cherry wood painting" as well as a certificate of appreciation during this high-level meeting of the United Nations General Assembly. She congratulated the Ministry's working team and members of the National Committee on the Control of Non-communicable Diseases. She said the team played a major role in achieving this achievement through continued support and encouragement from HRH the Prime Minister to the health sector in general and to the Ministry of Health in particular. And said that these outstanding projects reflect the vision of wise leadership to improve the work of the ministries of services that work for the benefit of the Bahraini citizen, the minister confirmed. She affirmed that such an honorable achievement which Bahrain is proud of comes from the efforts and efficiency of distinguished health personnel, the people of Bahrain, and the encouragement and support of His Highness the Prime Minister and His Excellency Dr. Shaikh Mohammed Bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, the President of the Supreme Council of Health, who provide all support for the important projects in the field of health. The Minister expressed her deep pride in the outstanding achievement, stressing that this remarkable achievement would not have been possible without ambitious unlimited visions, by the wise leadership, which pay particular attention to the health sector in order to improve the services provided to citizens and residents, in order to prevent diseases and promote health. The Minister of Health stressed important achievement and that the Ministry had made great strides and efforts to achieve its goal following the establishment of a multi-sectoral national committee to combat non-communicable diseases, bringing together representatives from all ministries, non-governmental organizations and the private sector in the task of the prevention of non- communicable diseases and its associated risk factors. She said the multi-sectoral national committee has cooperated extensively in the control of non - communicable diseases in the Kingdom, under supervision of the Supreme Council of Health, adding that the committee has also received considerable support and attention from the Government, and unlimited guidance from the United Nations and the World Health Organization (WHO) in order to achieve sustainable development goals. “The Kingdom of Bahrain had updated the Strategic Plan for the Prevention and Control of Non-communicable Diseases (2015-2019) on the basis of the WHO Global Plan of Action to Combat Non communicable Diseases (2013-2020) and the United Nations Declaration, enabling it to achieve many accomplishment for control of non-communicable diseases, which played a major role in obtaining the award, the minister said. The Health Minister pointed out that the health system in the Kingdom is constantly evolving and provides comprehensive health coverage for all citizens and residents. She went on to explain that the health system is based on a national health plan based on a number of goals for achieving sustainable development and improving health, and that the plan is based on the Bahrain Economic Vision 2030, the Health Improvement Strategy 2015-2019, the National Strategy for Non-communicable Diseases between 2016-2025, and the Gulf Plan (2011/2020) approved by the GCC Cooperation Council.