Health Ministry's Undersecretary participates in the UN High-Level meetings

New York, Sept. 22 (BNA): Dr. Waleed Khalifa Al-Manae, Health Ministry’s Undersecretary, has affirmed Bahrain’s keenness to provide comprehensive healthcare for all the citizens and residents.

He also highlighted the kingdom's success in preventing, preparing for and responding to diseases, citing its distinguished successful efforts to mitigate COVID-19.
 
The undersecretary made the statements while participating in the UN High-Level meetings held on the sidelines of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 78). The meetings focused on “Pandemic prevention, preparedness and response”, “Universal health coverage” and “Fight against tuberculosis (TB)”.
 
Dr. Al-Manae asserted that the kingdom attaches utmost importance to preparing for health emergencies, noting that government is keen to develop multi-sectoral national plans and strategies to confront emergencies and disasters while allocating the necessary support and funding for them.
 
He indicated that Bahrain had proved its high ability to confront and respond to health emergencies by succeeding in dealing with the Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-1) thanks to its distinguished capabilities.
 
The undersecretary underlined the kingdom’s support for the UN-led efforts to prevent epidemics, as well as prepare for and respond to health emergencies by strengthening basic capabilities and developing national plans and strategies in this regard, as an integral part of national and global preparedness efforts, comprehensive health coverage and sustainable development goals.
 
He pointed out that the kingdom had been keen to implement the Health Insurance Law, and multi-year health strategies that included partnership and integration of various entities, adopting decisions in light of the data, and developing a special database for health systems to ensure the delivery of quality service.
 
Regarding tuberculosis, he pointed out that the kingdom had adopted the recommendations of the World Health Organisation to deal with the disease, and set a goal to reduce the infection rate by 80% by the year 2030.
 
He affirmed Bahrain’s full support for the UN General Assembly’s efforts to control tuberculosis, announcing the kingdom’s adoption of all guidelines and decisions supporting the control of this disease, especially multidrug-resistant tuberculosis and highly resistant tuberculosis.