WHO to honour HRH Premier as ‘World Leader’

Manama, May 14 (BNA): In a new international achievement reflecting the global impact and resonance of the contributions of His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, the World Health Organisation (WHO) will honour on 20 May HRH Premier as a world leader; the first move of its kind in the history of the Organization. The event will be held at WHO headquarters at the UN Palace in Geneva in the presence of heads of states, governments and ministers of health from the 194 WHO Member States, which represents the supreme body of the Organisation in decision-making. This international honour is a unique event in the history of WHO. It is of particular importance and value that can be understood from the invitation addressed to His Highness the Prime Minister by the Chief of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Tidros Adhanom Gibressus. In the invitation, he expressed his pleasure and honour to invite HRH Premier to attend the 72nd World Health Assembly due to the great contributions that HRH has made in the field of health, and for his vision, ideas; policies, initiatives and achievements that have been accomplished and become a role model for the entire world. This high international honour reflects recognition of the World Health Organisation (WHO) of the role that HRH Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa has played in activating WHO's efforts aimed at achieving its objectives, missions and functions, including providing leadership on issues critical to health; establishing partnerships that require joint action and norm-setting, promotion and monitoring of their implementation; building sustainable institutional capacity, monitoring health status and assessing health trends. As the work of the World Health Organisation is linked to a field of human life that can be measured and viewed, it is based on facts and actions that express themselves with clear evidence. His Royal Highness the Prime Minister was chosen by the World Health Organisation after a careful follow-up on the progress of the health sector in the Kingdom of Bahrain, which deserves to be a role model for other countries of the world. "It is a great honour to have an audience with Your Royal Highness and thank you for your leadership and support and for efforts of the Kingdom of Bahrain in the health sector. Bahrain has become a successful model in this area, and we would like to convey to the World Health Organisation your experiences to other countries to benefit from,” said the Director-General of the World Health Organisation during his meeting with HRH Premier last November. He also praised the Government of Bahrain, under leadership of HRH Prime Minister, for the attention and follow-up it has been giving to every development in the field of health, and for its keenness to strengthen cooperation with the World Health Organisation in support of global health promotion efforts. Indeed, cooperation with the World Health Organisation has been a consistent approach for His Royal Highness the Prime Minister since the adoption of the Alma-Ata Declaration in 1978. HRH Premier called on WHO Member States to provide “health for all” by the year 2000. HRH the Prime Minister also called for the implementation of this Declaration by providing advanced health care to all citizens and residents in accordance with the new health strategy that was launched in 2002/2010 to make Bahrain one of the first countries to develop a strategy to reform and develop the health system in line with the goals of the World Health Organisation.