Qatar focus on health, environment highlighted

The Minister of Municipality and Environment HE Mohamed bin Abdullah al-Rumaihi yesterday highlighted that Qatar, under the wise leadership of HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, has accorded great focus on health and environment by including these as important pillars of the Qatar National Vision (QNV) 2030.HE al-Rumaihi was speaking at the opening session of the joint meeting of Arab ministers of health and environment in Cairo. The meeting was co-chaired by HE al-Rumaihi and the Yemeni Minister of Health Dr Nasser Ba’oom.HE al-Rumaihi said the convening of the meeting stresses the need for harmonisation between the areas of health and environment.The meeting also lays focus on the importance of bringing the two fields together and promoting joint Arab action on relevant issues, HE al-Rumaihi said.In this context, HE al-Rumaihi underlined the need to boost the development of health and environmental sectors in the Arab world.He also praised the efforts being undertaken towards achieving the Arab Strategy of Health and Environment (2017-30) in line with national strategies and policies in the Arab countries, in addition to defining the framework for strategic action aimed at ensuring the advancement of Arab nations in areas of health and environment so as to meet their citizens’ needs.The minister expressed hope that the meeting’s outcome would be the first step towards establishing an integrated series that links environment and health areas according to a knowledge-based approach and the best international standards and which will also contribute to the Arab nations ranking among the most developed countries and achieving prosperity of their peoples.HE al-Rumaihi praised the efforts of the World Health Organisation (WHO) along with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in the areas of health and environment.The meeting addresses means of coping with environmental hazards and minimising their impact on human well-being as well as promoting the health and environmental sectors.