KUWAIT: Hawally Governor and the Acting Governor of the Capital Ali Al-Asfar announced that Al-Shuhada area has joined the regional network of healthy cities affiliated with the World Health Organization initiative. The achievement will have its positive impact for the residents of the region, he said. Al-Asfar said in a press statement on Tuesday after signing the registration form, that with the addition of the Al-Shuhada region, the number of Kuwaiti healthy cities registered in the Hawally and Capital Governorates will rise to 12 regions.

He expressed his thanks for the efforts made by the members of the Healthy Cities Committee and their remarkable role, which had an impact. The positive thing is that Al-Shuhada area has joined the health cities and the improvement of health services provided. For her part, the head of the Health Cities Office at the Ministry of Health, Dr Amal Al-Yahya, told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that the registration of Al-Shuhada area reflects special importance as it is the second area in Hawally Governorate and the 18th in Kuwait and comes after registering Hawally Governorate as a healthy governorate.

Al-Yahya added that there are five areas, including Al-Shuhada in Hawally Governorate, that were chosen as implementation sites for the Hawally Governorate project, noting that cooperation will be established with all other Kuwaiti health cities. She stressed the excellence of the work in Hawally Governorate thanks to the cooperation between the various sectors in cities, in addition to containing the application of special concepts for health places, including the health university, the health mall, and health-promoting schools.

She pointed out the ministry of health’s plan to expand the application to include all regions of Kuwait, as well as the directives of the minister of health regarding developing a plan that includes all primary health care centers so that they are all affiliated with and implementing the initiative. Healthy cities, especially with regard to standards for health development, include 26 of the 80 standards for healthy cities. With regard to the project at the level of the ministry of health, she stressed the need for all primary healthcare centers to implement the healthy city standards for health development during the five-year plan. — KUNA