Minister of Health Khalid Al-Falih

Minister of Health Khalid Al-Falih will head the Saudi delegation to the 68th session of the World Health Assembly (WHA) that will be held in Geneva on May18-26.

The assembly, which will be attended by delegations from all WHO member states, is the supreme decision-making body of WHO. Its main functions are to determine policies of the organization, supervise financial policies, and review and approve the proposed program budget. The assembly is held annually in Geneva.

The session expects to tackle a wide range of health issues that have global nature and some which are related to the Gulf region. These issues include the Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome, corona virus diseases, health conditions in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.

Also, they will include the Ebola virus outbreak, a follow-up to the special session of the executive board on Ebola1, and resolution EBSS3.R1 on Ebola, ending the current outbreak.

They will also include an overview of WHO reform implementations, promoting health through the course of life, monitoring achievements of health-related Millennium Development Goals, strengthening global preparedness, and ensuring WHO’s capacity to prepare for and respond to future large-scale outbreaks and emergencies with health consequences.

A heavy agenda awaits Al-Falih during his stay in Genera. In addition to his participation at the WHA meeting, he will head the Saudi delegation to three important Arab regional health meetings.

On May 17, he will head the delegation to the regional committee of the WHO meeting for the Eastern Mediterranean region to discuss health issues related to the region that need the attendance of top health authority heads.

On May 18, Al-Falih will head the delegation to the 44th ordinary session of the Arab Health Ministers Council. The health situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, and Yemen, unifying health laws, the status of health research in Arab countries, and the Arab commission for blood transfusions will be discussed.

On May 20, he will chair the 40th session of the health ministers council of the Gulf Arab states. Issues related to these states will be discussed, including non-communicable diseases and expatriate worker health conditions, the performance of health systems, and the share of Yemen in the council budget.

The minister will be accompanied by the deputy health minister for public health Dr. Abdulaziz bin Saeed, deputy assistant minister for preventive medicine Dr. Abdullah Al-Asiri, the director general of non-communicable diseases Dr. Mohammed Saidi, and acting director general of international relations Hissa Al-Mutairi.

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