KUWAIT: A World Health Organization (WHO) official said on Thursday that the services provided by Kuwait in various fields helped it meet criteria for evaluating healthy cities in the country since the beginning of the evaluation phase.
Regional Advisor for Health Promotion and Social Determinants of Health at the World Health Organization for the Eastern Mediterranean Region Dr Samar Al-Faqi told KUNA that there are many components in Kuwait that helped it overcome obstacles and criteria required by the organization to evaluate healthy cities, in addition to the services it provides in terms of quality education, health, drinking water and sanitation services, etc.
Al-Faqi presented during her visit and the WHO delegation to Kuwait the most prominent challenges facing the implementation of the healthy cities initiative at the regional level, represented by the fact that 40 percent of the countries in the region suffer from wars and emergency situations unfortunately, and this is considered a challenge. She also mentioned among the challenges the slowness or disparity of interaction between those in charge of or responsible for cities and their succession in them.
She added that among the challenges is also understanding the term healthy city as building hospitals or health centers or taking care of health from a clinical perspective, which is wrong. Health according to the WHO is not the absence of diseases, but rather a state of mental, physical, social and all aspects of health. She explained that Kuwait has taken it upon itself to clarify the broader concept of health and the importance of cooperation between sectors.
"The Ministry of Health is concerned with the service aspect, so Kuwait has clearly disseminated this concept to everyone, thus cooperation between sectors has been excellently enhanced in implementing healthy cities,” Al-Faqi said pointing out that the governors of the governorates of Kuwait play an important role in pushing the healthy cities program significantly, appreciating the efforts of Kuwait, which is one of the very few countries that has a department for healthy cities in the Ministry of Health. — KUNA